Hungary-China Relations: the ghost of a Soviet past?
Photo by Abigail Mason
On February 19th, 2023, Hungary welcomed a visit from China’s top diplomat, Wang Yi, in a move that reinforced Hungary’s close ties to Beijing. China is Hungary’s largest investor, and Hungary, in turn, has been vocal in their support of China. Hungary is now considered to be China’s closest and strongest ally in Europe, an interesting fact being that Hungary is still feeling the effects of the Soviet Union. Hungary is making the mistake that so many nation’s, globally, have already made. They are becoming indebted to China. From the time I have spent in Hungary, it is obvious that the development of infrastructure is a top priority of the government. They have sought to rebuild and revitalize following the destruction that World War II and Soviet occupation caused throughout the country. China has offered them the ability to do this—however, at a cost.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has rejected the approach of many other European nations towards China. In a statement to the Chinese state media, last month, Orban said that “what’s going on in the European Union today is, I think, what the people in Brussels call decoupling, or isolation, or a breaking off of ties. And there are proposals to initiate such a policy in relation to China.” He believes that this policy would be a mistake. Other European countries such as the Czech Republic and Poland have concerns about economic dependency on China. According to Thomas Grove and Drew Hinshaw in The Wall Street Journal, these countries have “turned more hawkish toward Beijing, concerned about Europe’s economic vulnerability to an authoritarian state they see as aligned with Moscow.”
As US tensions with China grow, Wang Yi’s “visit signaled how, even as the Biden administration seeks to maintain Western unity in the face of Russian aggression, Washington’s attempts to shape Europe’s approach to China faces an obstacle in Mr. Orban,” writes Grove and Hinshaw. The Hungarian government has refused to condemn China’s human rights abuses, and Putin’s war on Ukraine.
On October 23, 2019, I was wandering the streets of Budapest and happened to stumble upon a commemoration parade for the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. Thousands of people processed along the Danube, torches and flags in hand—a reminder of the revolution against the communist regime. The Hungarian people do not shy away from reminders of their history, and they honor those that were lost during the many decades of occupation. This is why the Hungarian government’s embrace of China is so startling. It is contrary to everything that the Hungarian people value. The Hungarian constitution was changed on October 23, 1989 to reflect the call for multi-party politics, public assembly and power separation in government. In contrast, President Xi of China is currently trying to consolidate power in Beijing. As China continues to expand their power and influence around the world, countries like Hungary are being taken advantage of. If Chinese investment continues, Hungary will find themselves in a hole of debt out of which they will never be able to escape.