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2023 was an active year for Hungarian-Chinese relations, but 2024 is expected to be even more intense, as next year will mark the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries. Levente Horváth, former Consul General in Shanghai and director of the Eurasia Center, told Index that it is even possible that Chinese President Xi Jinping will visit Hungary.
Hungarian-Chinese relations have intensified since the announcement of the Belt and Road Initiative in 2013, with Hungary joining the Chinese initiative in 2015. Since then, the relationship with China has become more and more prominent in Hungarian government policy every year. This year, for instance, the government announced several Chinese investments, and in October, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and his delegation visited China. The director of the Eurasia Center thinks that Mr. Orbán’s participation in the Belt and Road Forum can be considered the most important event in Hungarian-Chinese political cooperation this year. “It is foreseeable that the year 2024, the 75th anniversary of Hungarian-Chinese diplomatic relations and the Hungarian EU Presidency, will give an even greater boost to Hungarian-Chinese relations,” Levente Horváth added.
In an interview with Index, the director of the Eurasia Center recalled that Hungary announced its policy of opening up to the East in 2010. In the past ten years, the share of foreign working capital in Hungary has risen from 18.8 percent to 34 percent, with China’s share rising from 1 to 9 percent. However, he believes that
there is no need to fear how much Chinese economic influence will increase in Hungary, as South Korea’s share has risen from 1 to 14 percent and Germany is still in the lead with 17 percent.
He pointed out that it is natural that one of the largest economies should seek economic relations with all countries. But the reverse is also true: every country wants to build good relations with the most developed, fastest growing, and richest countries. In other words, China – the second largest country in the world economy – is seeking good relations not only with Hungary, but with all European countries, and in the same way Hungary is looking for opportunities to link up with other Asian countries as well as China.
For Hungary, China is an important economic partner because it is the world’s second largest economy, has a market of 1.4 billion people and advanced technology. In order for Hungarian companies to make good use of this, they need to develop a good China strategy. Hungary is important for China because it is an EU Member State, has a good geographical location, and a stable political and economic environment,” said Horváth.
Hungary has often been criticized by Western European politicians for its relations with China, which are indeed intensifying and an increasing number of Chinese companies are investing, but Hungary is still far behind the Western European countries in terms of economic cooperation, due to its economic size alone,”
The former Consul General emphasized. “Germany or France alone have more economic ties with China than the Central and Eastern European countries combined,” he pointed out.
He reminded that 2024 will mark the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Hungary and China, and this could be an opportunity for the Chinese Head of State to visit Budapest. In 2009, Xi Jinping visited Hungary as vice-president, but in 2016, as president, he visited Poland, the Czech Republic, and Serbia.
Via Index, Featured image: Facebook/Orbán Viktor
