Hungarian Prime Minister Orban makes a surprise visit to China
Published: Monday, Jul 8th 2024, 09:10
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Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban makes a surprise visit to China on his tour of states staged as a "peace mission". Chinese state media reported the arrival of the Hungarian head of government in Beijing this morning (local time). "Peace mission 3.0 #Beijing", Orban wrote on the social network X. He also posted a photo there showing him being greeted by Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Hua Chunying at the airport. He had previously traveled to Moscow and Kiev.
Meeting with Xi
According to China's official news agency Xinhua, Orban met state and party leader Xi Jinping in Beijing. At the top of the agenda was the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine. Orban wrote in another post on X that China was a "key power" in creating conditions for peace in the war.
Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto will also be there, as he announced on Facebook. Szijjarto was originally due to meet with Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) in Budapest. However, the visit was canceled at short notice. The Hungarian Foreign Ministry justified this with an "unforeseen change in Szijjarto's schedule".
The Federal Foreign Office said at the weekend: "A serious and honest personal discussion between the two foreign ministers would have been very important in view of Prime Minister Orban's surprising and uncoordinated trip to Moscow". The trip is to be rescheduled. Hungary took over the presidency of the EU Council on July 1.
The role of China
China is Russia's most important ally. The People's Republic maintains close economic and political ties with Moscow. Beijing is therefore considered to have a great deal of influence over Russia's actions in Ukraine. The country likes to present itself as neutral to the outside world. However, Western countries repeatedly accuse China of supporting Moscow's defense industry and thus the war by exporting important technology and equipment.
Beijing had canceled the recent peace conference on the Ukraine war in Switzerland. It was said that the necessary conditions for China's participation had not been met. The communist government wanted to work on a peace solution on its own. The main reason for the cancellation was thought to be that Russia was not present.
Previous visit to Russia
On Friday, Orban was received by Russian President Vladimir Putin during his controversial visit to Moscow. Orban had also staged the meeting with Putin, whose country has been waging a war of aggression against Ukraine for more than two years, as a "peace mission". Numerous EU leaders criticized the trip.
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, for example, made it clear that she sees Orban's unilateral action as a threat to the credibility of the European Union. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) made it clear that Orban traveled to Putin as Prime Minister of Hungary and not as a foreign policy representative of the EU.
Good relations between China and Hungary
Xi also visited Hungary on a trip to Europe in May. Budapest and Beijing have had good relations for some time. In October, Orban was one of the few European representatives and the only EU head of government to take part in China's forum on the "New Silk Road". Hungary is also part of the Chinese investment project with which the People's Republic is implementing infrastructure projects worldwide and thus expanding its influence.
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