By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
BUDAPEST/BELGRAD (Worthy News) – China’s President Xi Jinping was to receive red-carpet treatment in Hungary and neighboring Serbia, contrasting tensions in France, where he began his six-day European tour.
While most nations with the European Union view China as a significant economic and political rival, Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is embracing closer cooperation with China.
Xi and Orbán have something in common: both have been accused of authoritarian leadership styles and a lack of democratic credentials.
Although Orbán has told a Worthy News reporter about his concerns about persecuted Christians, the talks were expected to focus on multibillion-dollar investments instead.
Hungary and Serbia back Xi’s signature “Belt and Road Initiative” to build railways, ports, and power plants worldwide to boost soft power and economic growth.
Direct Chinese investment in the two nations exceeds 15 billion euros ($16.1 billion), with expected including China’s first electric car factory in the EU, which will be built in Hungary.
Yet opposition legislators have expressed concerns about the environmental impact of Chinese battery plants being rolled out in the country.
CHINESE POLICE
Additionally, there is concern about Hungary’s decision to allow Chinese police to patrol tourist sites.
Opposition politicians fear it could lead to more control over Hungary’s estimated 30,000-strong Chinese community and more espionage.
Government plans to one day build a Chinese university in Budapest have also raised eyebrows.
Yet for Orbán Xi’s visit is an opportunity to show to the EU and U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration that he isn’t isolated despite the withholding of billions in EU funding over his perceived crackdown on previously independent institutions ranging from media to the judiciary and even churches.
Orbán has also faced questions over the rule of law following corruption scandals and alleged mismanagement of billions in EU aid, charges he denies.
Besides trade, Xi was also due to discuss his proposals for peace in Ukraine. Budapest and Beijing declined to send weapons to Ukraine and want to see peace talks between Moscow and Kyiv start as soon as possible.
Hungary’s Foreign Péter Szijjártó said the government “welcomed China’s commitment to peace, aligning with Hungary’s stance on the importance of peaceful resolution.”
CHINESE FLAGS
Chinese flags also adorned highways as Serbia got ready to give the Chinese leader a “home-from-home welcome.”
Ahead of his arrival, Xi hit out against the Western NATO military alliance for its 1999 bombing of the Chinese embassy in the Serbian capital, in which three Chinese journalists were killed.
The attack happened during NATO’s efforts to halt Serbia’s crackdown in Kosovo, which attempted to declare independence.
In an article for the Serbian website Politika, Xi wrote: “Twenty-five years ago, Nato flagrantly bombed the Chinese embassy in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, killing three Chinese journalists, namely Shao Yunhuan, Xu Singhu and his wife, Zhu Ying. We must never forget this.”
He said the “friendship of China and Serbia” was “soaked in the shared blood of the two nations” and “the close cooperation between” them since his last visit there eight years ago.
He appeared to have less fruitful talks in France, where he agreed with French President Emmanuel Macron and the EU’s European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, to agree to disagree on sensitive trade issues.
Von der Leyen stressed that the EU may impose tariffs on cheap Chinese imports, including electric cars. Before leaving France, Xi visited the Pyrenees with Macron, where he said he would welcome more high-level talks on trade frictions but denied a Chinese “overcapacity problem.”
SNOWY PEAKS
After watching traditional dancers perform under the snowy peaks, the two leaders ate locally grown ham, lamb, cheese, and blueberry pie. Macron gave Xi a woolen blanket made in the Pyrenees, a Tour de France jersey, and an Armagnac from the nearby southwestern region.
Yet French brandy is at risk of being hit by Chinese trade sanctions after Beijing opened an anti-dumping investigation into European brandy.
That was seen as retaliation for the EU’s mounting number of inquiries into alleged Bejing subsidies for exported electric cars, solar panels, wind turbines, and medical devices.
French and Chinese companies concluded some agreements on Monday in areas including energy, finance, and transport on the sidelines of Xi’s visit.
But critics said most were agreements to cooperate or renewed commitments to work together, and there were no significant deals.
European hopes of an Airbus plane order to coincide with Xi’s visit appear to have been dashed, with the two sides agreeing only to expand cooperation.
A European diplomat told The Guardian newspaper that Xi was the winner of the visit, having “cemented his image as the ‘ruler of the world’ where westerners are begging him to solve European problems in Ukraine.”
Copyright 1999-2024 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.