(Budapest) After Paris and Belgrade, Chinese President Xi Jinping received a warm welcome on Thursday in Hungary, the last stop on his European tour, between flourishing economic ties and convergence of views on the Russian offensive in Ukraine.
He began the day with a military parade in the courtyard of the presidential palace, alongside the Hungarian head of state Tamas Sulyok, under a bright sun.
Accompanied by his wife Peng Liyuan, Xi Jinping had been welcomed the day before at the airport by nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his wife Aniko Levai, before a dinner of traditional Hungarian specialties.
For this visit described as “historic” by Budapest, the capital decorated in the colors of China was placed under high security and the rare flags displayed by Tibetan demonstrators carefully hidden from the view of the Chinese president.
Before his arrival, Xi Jinping compared bilateral relations to a “golden cruise”, in an article published by the pro-power newspaper Magyar Nemzet.
“As sweet and rich as a Tokay wine”: in a lyrical burst, he paid tribute to the “friendship” cultivated by the two countries through “the trials”.
“We challenged the geopolitical order together in an unstable international context,” charting our course “as sovereign states in complete independence,” he wrote.
16 chords
A nod to the go-it-alone strategy led by Prime Minister Viktor Orban within the European Union.
While scrambling with Brussels, the nationalist leader has resolutely turned towards the East in recent years. And when Brussels distanced itself from Beijing, it instead strengthened ties, rejecting the ideological confrontation of the “blocs”.
This almost three-day visit is an opportunity to “take our strategic partnership to new heights,” said the Chinese head of state, from cultural exchanges to economic cooperation, while the Asian superpower has become the leading investor. in Hungary last year.
In the opinion of experts, it is a “diplomatic success” for Budapest which has already announced the signing of at least 16 agreements, in rail and road infrastructure, nuclear energy and even automobiles. .
Across the country, battery and electric car factories are growing at an impressive speed, requiring investments of tens of billions of euros.
Enough to arouse the concerns of the opposition which denounces the opacity surrounding contracts, the environmental impact of factories and corruption, the constructions enriching, according to it, “Orban’s circle”.
Message to the EU
Welcomed Monday under the gold of the Élysée in Paris, Xi Jinping had “frank” exchanges with French President Emmanuel Macron on China-Europe trade disputes or even Beijing-Moscow links, viewed with suspicion by Westerners against the backdrop of of war in Ukraine.
But during this final Hungarian stage, no angry subjects and the media kept away.
Very few details have filtered out about the program.
Xi Jinping will meet from 5:30 p.m. at the Carmelite monastery, the prime minister’s residence, to meet Viktor Orban and make a statement to the press.
“This is an opportunity to show the rest of the EU” the virtues of cooperation with China, underlines Ja Ian Chong, political scientist at the University of Singapore. “He will also not have to face delicate conversations about his relationship with Moscow.”
Because Beijing and Budapest are on the same wavelength, pleading for a peaceful settlement in Ukraine while remaining close to the Kremlin.
In the streets of Budapest, if some point to human rights, Laszlo Toth, a 52-year-old security guard, asks why be choosy about the arrival of the Chinese president.
“Money has no smell as they say, and I am sure that even in Western Europe, they would be delighted to benefit from such investments,” he believes.
For his first trip to Europe since 2019, Xi Jinping also made a stopover in Serbia, another very friendly country, where President Aleksandar Vucic gave him a welcome marked by “respect” and “love”.
reference: www.lapresse.ca