Appalling? Chinese police officers to soon patrol in Hungary

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Police officers stand guard outside the High Court building in Hong Kong, China, 19 December 2023. EPA/LEUNG MAN HEI

Hungarian and Chinese police officers will provide joint patrol services, Sándor Pintér, Hungarian Interior Minister, agreed with his Chinese counterpart in mid-February.

Hungarian and Chinese police officers will carry out joint patrols, as agreed by the Hungarian Interior Minister and his Chinese counterpart in February. The German newspaper Welt reported that after the agreement, Chinese police officers could also appear in Hungarian cities, just like in Serbia.

“Joint petrol” by Chinese and Hungarian police

The Ministry of Interior (MI) confirmed to Telex that “police officers from the two countries will be able to jointly carry out patrols in the future, thus helping to improve communication between citizens and authorities of the two countries, improving internal security and public order.”

According to the MI, the cooperation agreement aims to improve security in the tourist areas of the two countries during peak tourist periods and, in general, during events that attract large crowds.

“The conclusion of similar agreements is not unprecedented, Hungarian police officers also assist their Croatian colleagues on the Croatian coast during the peak tourist season, and Austrian police officers have also been on joint duty with their Hungarian colleagues at Lake Balaton,” they wrote in their response to Telex.

Does the CCP plan to spy on its citizens in Hungary?

Critics of the agreement fear, according to Euronews, that China would use the police to control its citizens in Hungary. It is no secret that the Chinese Communist Party spies on its citizens worldwide. The human rights organisation Safeguard Defenders revealed in 2022 that China operates an international network of illegal police stations.

There are two such police service centres in Hungary: in Józsefváros and Kőbánya, both in Budapest. On paper, they deal with administrative matters; however, the Spanish rights organisation says that the Chinese state would rather use them to keep the Chinese diaspora under its ideological control and, if necessary, to force its members back home. The Ministry of Interior claims that there are no Chinese police stations in Hungary.

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