"China's top diplomat, Wang Yi, visited Hungary, one of Beijing's staunchest European partners, where Prime Minister Viktor Orban signaled Budapest's determination to strengthen ties with Beijing despite U.S. concern over growing Chinese investment in the country.
The visit stood in contrast to other meetings during Mr. Wang's weeklong visit to Europe, where he aims to strengthen ties on the continent at a time of growing tension with the U.S.
In Budapest, Mr. Orban held talks with Mr. Wang over dinner, and on Monday he met Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto.
"When we have faced crises in recent years, Hungary has always come out of them stronger than it went into them, but Hungarian-Chinese cooperation has played an absolutely indispensable role in this," Mr. Szijjarto said. Hungary is a prime destination for Chinese investment, and Chinese-Hungarian trade now exceeds $10 billion, he added.
The visit signaled how, even as the Biden administration seeks to maintain Western unity in the face of Russia, Washington's attempts to shape Europe's approach to China faces an obstacle in Mr. Orban. The five-term prime minister, who has governed Hungary for half of its post-Communist history, was the first in the European Union to sign a Belt-and-Road memorandum with Beijing, which financed a Chinese-built rail line connecting the country to Serbia.
His country hosts Huawei Technologies Co.'s largest supply center outside China, despite U.S. pressure to ban the tech company. After expelling Budapest's Central European University, a U.S.-accredited college founded by liberal billionaire George Soros, Mr. Orban agreed to host Shanghai's Fudan University, whose Hungarian campus would become the first Chinese university in the European Union.” [1]
1. World News: Hungary Welcomes Top China Diplomat
Grove, Thomas; Hinshaw, Drew. Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y. [New York, N.Y]. 21 Feb 2023: A.6.
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