Chinese campus in Budapest poses serious security risks for Hungary, the EU, and NATO, says opposition

Opposition members of parliament’s national security committee on Tuesday raised concerns over plans to set up a Fudan University campus in Budapest.

János Stummer of the conservative Jobbik party said the government had failed to answer questions such as who represents the Hungarian state in negotiations with the Chinese university and whether they had undergone national security vetting.

He noted

the opposition’s earlier suggestion that the talks should be transparent “so that residents can decide if it is worth making that huge investment.”

Socialist lawmaker Zsolt Molnár said the responses provided in the meeting had “raised more questions than were answered”. He insisted that

setting up the campus posed “serious security risks” for Hungary, the EU, and NATO.

Péter Ungár of LMP accused the government of “turning a blind eye” to national security risks associated with the Fudan plans, arguing that “higher education often provides cover for covert operations”. Courses to train diplomats, he added, were “especially sensitive from a national security point of view”.

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Source: MTI