Hungary continues to be a good friend of China, says PM Orbán in Beijing

Hungary continues to be a good friend of China in central Europe with Budapest pinning high hopes on cooperation, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said after his talks with Li Qiang, his Chinese counterpart, in Beijing on Monday.

The two countries will this year mark the 75th anniversary of establishing bilateral ties, he told reporters, adding that successful cooperation and “a personal friendship” had been built with China’s former premiers as well.

Orbán cited “a deeper, cultural root” of the “political friendship” between the two countries, noting that Hungary had been the first country in the former Soviet bloc to recognise China and the only country in central Europe that had consistently supported the One China principle.

Orbán said that he, as the leader of the Hungarian opposition at the time, had held his first meeting with Xi Jinping in 2009 when Xi was China‘s vice president. Talks with Xi, now China’s president, will be held on Tuesday, said Orbán, adding that it is going to be their seventh meeting, which “illustrates well the friendship between the two peoples”. “I will do my outmost to pursue a foreign policy towards China that follows duly in the footsteps of our predecessors.”

Premier Li Qiang said the two countries had a close friendship which had helped develop their bilateral ties at the highest level. Chinese-Hungarian ties are in their best period yet, he added.

After the talks, intergovernmental agreements were signed on bilateral projects implemented in the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative, on cooperation in the areas of education, industry and investment, and on technological development, digital economy and climate protection.

Orbán will participate in the third Belt and Road Forum on Tuesday and Wednesday.

China is Hungary’s ninth top trading partner as well as its largest foreign direct investor, with companies of Chinese ownership employing close to 20,000 people in the country.

As we wrote yesterday, PM Orbán welcomed in Beijing with military honors – PHOTOS