China Daily/Reuters
On July 8, Chinese President Xi Jinping met with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing.
Hong Kong
CNN
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Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing on Monday, days after the European far-right leader made controversial visits to Moscow and Kiev in what he described as an “envoy of peace”.
Orban, who has been widely criticised in the West for his pro-Russian stance amid Russia’s onslaught on Ukraine, posted a picture of himself arriving at Beijing airport on social media platform X with the caption “Peace Mission 3.0”.
According to a flash report published by China’s state-run CCTV, the meeting between the two leaders, which took place at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, focused on “in-depth communication” on the Ukraine war.
Orban’s unannounced visit comes the day before the start of a NATO summit in Washington, where U.S. President Joe Biden is expected to host leaders of NATO countries, including Hungary, to urge continued support for Ukraine’s defense. Orban’s spokesman said on Monday that Washington would be Orban’s next stop after Beijing.
China, Russia’s most important diplomatic ally, is also expected to be on the agenda, as NATO leaders have grown increasingly wary of Beijing’s support for Moscow’s war effort through dual-use supplies and other economic and diplomatic support.
China says it does not supply weapons to either side in the conflict and defends its strict controls on the export of dual-use weapons.
China has maintained its neutrality in the war and has sought to position itself as a potential peace broker in the conflict, while Xi has grown increasingly loyal to Russian President Vladimir Putin more than two years after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
The two sides praised their close ties during talks on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Kazakhstan last week.
During his meeting with Orban on Monday, Xi reiterated Beijing’s call for a ceasefire in Ukraine, according to CCTV.
This long-standing request from Beijing has been criticized by Western countries as being intended to help Russia consolidate its illegal territorial gains without first stipulating that Russian troops withdraw from Ukrainian territory.
Orban, widely seen as Putin’s biggest ally in Europe, has also campaigned for a ceasefire rather than military aid for Ukraine.
China is “an important country that creates conditions for peace” in times of war, Orban said in a post on X on Monday. “This is why I met with Xi Jinping in Beijing just two months after his state visit to Budapest,” he added.
During the meeting, Xi insisted that China and Hungary have “the same basic proposals and direction of effort” on the Ukraine issue, appearing to refer to Beijing’s accusations that the United States and its allies are “fueling” the conflict by providing defensive weapons to Kiev.
“Only when all major powers exert positive energy, instead of negative energy, can the conflict see the dawn of a ceasefire as soon as possible,” Xi said, according to China Central Television.
Mr Orban’s visit to Beijing and to Russia and Ukraine last week came just a week after Budapest assumed the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union, a position viewed with skepticism by many EU leaders and where Mr Orban is widely seen as an illiberal outcast.
It also comes amid ongoing concern and deep divisions over when and how the Ukraine war will be resolved, nearly two and a half years after Russia’s full-scale aggression began.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was among European leaders to criticize Orban’s decision to travel to Moscow last week to meet Putin, the first such visit by an EU leader since April 2022, saying “appeasement will not stop Putin.”
“Only unity and determination will pave the way to a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in Ukraine,” she added.
Orban and Putin said last week they had discussed ways to end the conflict in Ukraine, and NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters afterwards that Orban was likely to brief other NATO leaders in Washington about the talks.
Orban’s visit to Moscow follows one to Kiev earlier last week, in which he said he had asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to consider a ceasefire “first” to “accelerate peace talks,” a proposal rejected by Zelenskiy’s office. Ukraine, embroiled in conflict, is seeking the restoration of territory as a condition for peace.
Orban and Xi last met in May, when the Chinese leader was given a lavish welcome during a state visit to Hungary.
Orban then upgraded relations between the two countries to an “all-weather comprehensive strategic partnership,” ignoring growing European concerns about security threats from Beijing.
Xi hailed the “successful” outcome during Monday’s meeting and reiterated hope that Hungary’s presidency of the Council of the EU will play a “positive role” in promoting the “healthy and stable development” of China-EU relations.
