By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
BEIJING/BUDAPEST (Worthy News) – Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán arrived in Beijing on Monday as part of unprecedented efforts to reach peace in Ukraine despite anger from some European Union leaders. He came to meet China’s President Xi Jinping after talks with Russia’s leader Vladimir Putin and earlier Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Orbán, whose country just assumed the European Union’s rotating presidency this month, said he was on a “Peace Mission 3.0″ after his government accused the EU of being filled with warmongering politicians.
China, which has close ties to Russia, has been trying to enlist countries to join a six-point peace plan it issued with Brazil in May. Orbàn is a close ally of former U.S. President Donald J. Trump, who also seeks a peace deal if re-elected.
In China, Orbàn will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Diaoyutai State Guest House in Beijing, where senior foreign visitors are sometimes received.
However, “Appeasement will not stop Putin,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen complained on Friday following Orban’s meeting with the Russian leader.
Yet Hungary’s government will continue its peace mission “despite the attacks of pro-war European politicians,” the Hungarian foreign minister said ahead of Orbán’s trip to China. “It must have become apparent to everyone that the next six months [of Hungary’s EU presidency] will be a peace mission,” Péter Szijjártó stressed.
Szijjártó said Hungary will “do everything in its power” to contribute to the end of a war that is believed to have killed and injured as many as half a million soldiers on both sides. He added that Hungary wants to broker peace “after two and a half years of suffocating war crisis.”
‘CRISIS DEEPENING’
The past week also showed why the crisis was deepening in Europe, Szijjártó added. “Europe is full of pro-war politicians who have all surfaced this week, criticizing the Hungarian government and prime minister for working for peace.”
Those politicians “have deepened the crisis with weapon deliveries, with [voicing] phantasies on sending land troops and about nuclear weapons,” he said.
“These attacks do not intimidate or discourage us; the peace mission will continue and even strengthen, and so I would like to ask pro-war politicians to buckle their seatbelts and pay attention next week, too,” Szijjártó warned.
Orbàn is a critic of Western military aid to Ukraine and is the EU leader with the warmest relations with Xi and Putin.
Hungary has also become an important trade and investment partner for China, contrasting with other EU nations seeking to become less dependent on the world’s second-largest economy.
His trip to China comes days ahead of a NATO military alliance summit that will address providing further support to Ukraine.
The China trip also follows the EU’s executive European Commission, which confirmed last week that it would impose tariffs of up to 37.6 percent on imports of electric vehicles made in China, sparking anger in Hungary, which is hosting Chinese battery plants.
AVOIDING TRADE WAR
“This is a very bad idea from a European standpoint,” Szijjártó said.
“Those tariffs would seriously damage the European economy. We sincerely hope they will not be introduced in the end,” he added.
While holding the EU’s presidency, Hungary “will continue to work to avoid a trade war between the bloc and China as that would severely damage the EU,” the foreign minister added in Budapest.
He spoke after talks on Sunday with Robin Zeng, the founding chairman of Chinese battery maker CATL, which Hungary will host.
“Hungary has bet on the right horse when we decided to turn the country into a cooperation hub between eastern and western car manufacturers,” Szijjártó said, noting the facilities set up by German, Chinese and South Korean manufacturers.
CATL is building its plant near the eastern city of Debrecen despite safety and environmental concerns among opposition parties and at least some residents.
Copyright 1999-2024 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
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