Hungary has ‘all-weather partnership’ with China: PM

BUDAPEST: Hungary formed an ‘all-weather partnership’ with China, and will expand cooperation in the nuclear industry and other areas, Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban told a joint press conference with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Budapest on Thursday.

“China is one of the pillars of the new world order,” Orban said, adding that Hungary will support China’s peace plan in Ukraine.

Hungary under right-leaning Prime Minister Viktor Orban has become an important trade and investment partner for China, in contrast with some other EU nations that are considering becoming less dependent on the world’s second-largest economy.

Xi arrived in Budapest late on Wednesday after visiting France and Serbia. In Paris, President Emmanuel Macron and EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen pressed him to ensure more balanced trade with Europe and use his influence on Russia to end the war in Ukraine.

Xi also said that he hoped Hungary would take the rotating presidency of the European Union in the second half of the year as an opportunity to promote the sound development of China-EU relations.