Text / Modern Logistics News all-media reporter Zhu Ruiying
On the afternoon of May 9, China held talks with Hungary at the Prime Minister's Office in Budapest. The leaders of the two countries announced that China-Hungary relations will be upgraded to an all-weather comprehensive strategic partnership in the new era.
Interestingly, on May 6, during the talks between the Chinese and French heads of state, the President of the European Commission appeared again and held talks with Chinese leaders. According to reports, during the talks, von der Leyen also claimed that the Chinese government subsidized domestic manufacturing, resulting in "overcapacity". Von der Leyen declared that the EU would take trade defenses, including punitive tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles.
I wonder if von der Leyen represents the interests of the European Union, or the interests of the United States? Is this threat a smash for Macron, or a smash for the European market? However, Chinese companies have not yet spoken, and the German side has spoken. On May 8, Transport Minister Wiesing, Germany, the EU's largest trading country, publicly stated that Germany did not agree with the EU's imposition of punitive tariffs on Chinese automakers.
Zipzer, CEO of Germany's BMW Group, said on May 8 that the EU's possible measures to impose additional tariffs on electric vehicles imported from China would only "shoot yourself in the foot".
However, even with politicians such as von der Reyen who insist on "de-risking" China, the tide of China-EU cooperation cannot be stopped. This is best illustrated by the elevation of China-Hungary relations to an all-weather comprehensive strategic partnership in the new era.
In 2023, the bilateral trade volume between China and Hungary will be 14.52 billion US dollars, an increase of 73% compared with 2013. In 2023, China's direct investment in Hungary will reach 7.6 billion euros, accounting for 58% of Hungary's total foreign direct investment, and China will once again become the largest source of foreign investment in Hungary after 2020.
New energy vehicles are not decoupled, but also strengthened
In recent years, Hungary has created a number of "firsts" in developing friendly relations with China: the first European country to sign a memorandum of understanding with China on "Belt and Road" cooperation; the first Central and Eastern European country to set up a RMB clearing bank; The first CEE country to issue RMB bonds......
According to public information, China is currently Hungary's largest trading partner outside Europe, and Hungary is one of the mainland's most important trading partners in Central and Eastern Europe. Prime Minister Orban has attended three consecutive Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, and the two countries have ministerial meetings almost every month.
On May 8, on the occasion of his state visit to Hungary in Budapest, President Xi Jinping published a signed article entitled "Working Together to Lead China-Hungary Relations into the "Golden Channel" in the Hungarian newspaper Hungarian Nation.
The article pointed out that since the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Hungary 75 years ago, China and Hungary have insisted on being good partners for win-win cooperation. The two sides will focus on high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, strengthen in-depth strategic synergy between the two countries, deepen practical cooperation in investment, infrastructure construction, finance, new energy, communications technology and other fields, and jointly inject impetus into the world economic recovery.
(On January 30, BYD and the Szeged Municipal Government of Hungary officially signed a pre-purchase agreement for the land of the passenger car factory Source: BYD official website)
Orban said that Hungary-China cooperation on the Belt and Road Initiative has been a great success, creating jobs and improving people's livelihood in Hungary. Hungary hopes to continue to promote cooperation with China in large-scale infrastructure projects such as the Hungarian-Serbian railway within the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative, strengthen cooperation in the fields of economy, trade, new energy and other fields, and welcome more Chinese enterprises to invest and cooperate in Hungary.
Hungary has been seeking to transform its automotive industry, and it has repeatedly revised and updated the Foreign Direct Investment Act in order to increase its attractiveness to foreign investment. In addition, Hungary has formulated a plan for the development of electric vehicles in 2016, and in 2023, it will explicitly encourage the use of new energy vehicles.
In recent years, China's new energy vehicle upstream and downstream enterprises such as NIO, BYD, and CATL have invested and set up factories in Hungary, which has become a microcosm of the vigorous development of Sino-Hungarian economic and trade relations.
Since October 2023, China has continued to deepen its cooperation in the fields of new energy vehicles, lithium batteries and photovoltaics, and projects such as CATL's Hungarian factory, BYD's Hungarian new energy vehicle production base, and Kuaibu New Energy's Kaboschburg Optical Storage and Charging Smart Power Station have been steadily promoted.
With the support of Chinese investment, Hungary has accounted for 4% of the global market share in the field of lithium batteries, ranking third in the world.
The "Belt and Road" deepens cooperation, and logistics is the focus
The "Joint Statement" issued by China and Hungary pointed out that the two sides will orderly promote cooperation in emerging fields such as clean energy, artificial intelligence, mobile communication technology, nuclear energy and nuclear technology, actively promote the construction of the Hungarian section of the Hungarian-Serbian Railway, actively support the healthy and stable development of the China-Europe land-sea express line, establish a cooperation mechanism between the governments of the two countries on the China-Europe Express, promote infrastructure connectivity, and jointly take pragmatic measures to ensure the safety of the China-Europe Express transportation channel and improve the quality and efficiency of transportation. We will further deepen cooperation on customs clearance facilitation on the China-Europe Land-Sea Express and promote cross-border trade facilitation.
(A train runs on a bridge across the Sava River in the Benoa section of the Hungarian-Serbian railway built by China Source: Xinhua News Agency)
In an exclusive interview with China News Service, Hungarian MEP and Vice President of the European Parliament's Committee on Transport and Tourism, Ujhey István stressed: "As the first European country to sign the Belt and Road cooperation document with China, Hungary will closely align the Belt and Road Initiative with Hungary's "Open to the East" strategy, and promote the continuous upgrading of Hungarian-Chinese cooperation in economic, trade, investment, finance and other fields. ”
On May 2, the China-Hungary Belt and Road Initiative Practical Cooperation Annual Conference was held in Budapest, at which the Report on China-Hungary Investment Cooperation was released.
The report pointed out that in recent years, the bilateral trade cooperation between China and Hungary has deepened and become solid, the investment field has continued to expand, the contracted projects have developed steadily, the financial services have been continuously optimized, and the potential for scientific and technological innovation cooperation has been greater. The Belt and Road Initiative and Hungary's "Open to the East" strategy have been effectively aligned, and the two countries have carried out a series of fruitful cooperation in connectivity, production capacity cooperation, and park construction.
A number of China-Europe freight trains passing through Hungary and the "Air Silk Road" have become important logistics channels between China and Europe. Established in 2012, the China-Europe Trade and Logistics Cooperation Park is the first overseas trade and logistics cooperation zone built in Europe by China, and is also a two-way interactive platform for Chinese and European enterprises integrating business exhibition and trading, logistics transportation and warehousing, industrial investment and cooperation. At present, the park has completed the construction of the Hungarian China Commodity Trade and Exhibition Center, the Hungarian Cepper Port Logistics Park and other projects, which can provide various customs, bonded warehousing and overseas warehouse services.
The Hungarian-Serbian railway project is a landmark project of the Belt and Road Initiative, with a total length of nearly 350 kilometers, connecting Budapest and Belgrade, the capital of Serbia. After the completion of the Hungarian-Serbian railway, it will strengthen the north-south railway transportation in Central and Eastern Europe, and enhance Hungary's status as a transportation and logistics hub in Central and Eastern Europe. Hungary has decided to include new domestic railway upgrading projects in the list of infrastructure projects under the Belt and Road Initiative.
In the Chinese section of the Hungarian section of the Hungarian-Serbian railway, the track-laying work was officially launched at the end of May last year. At present, the track laying is progressing smoothly, the right track is basically through, the left track laying is advancing, about 70% of the track has been laid in the Chinese section, and the overall project completion progress is more than 55%.
At present, China's investment in Hungary involves many industries such as power batteries, transportation and communications, and logistics. At present, Beijing, Shanghai, Chongqing, Ningbo, Guangzhou and other cities have opened five direct flight routes with Budapest, and a number of direct freight flights have been opened one after another, providing convenience for personnel exchanges and cargo transportation between the two countries. The China-Europe trains from Hefei, Shijiazhuang, Ganzhou and other cities to Budapest operate efficiently, and Hungary has become one of the important distribution centers of China-Europe trains.
annex
List of Outcome Documents of the Chinese Visit (Partial)
Chinese President Xi Jinping paid a state visit to Hungary from May 8 to 10, 2024, and the list of some logistics-related outcome documents is as follows:
1. Joint statement of the two countries
Joint Statement of the People's Republic of China and Hungary on Establishing an All-Weather Comprehensive Strategic Partnership for the New Era
2. Cooperation documents signed or agreed upon by both parties
1. List of Key Projects and Matters for the Third Round of China-Hungary Belt and Road Cooperation
2. Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry of Commerce of the People's Republic of China and the Ministry of National Economy of Hungary on Promoting the High-quality Development of Economic and Trade Cooperation Zones
3. Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry of Commerce of the People's Republic of China and the Ministry of Energy of Hungary on Promoting Investment Cooperation in the Field of Green Development
4. Memorandum of Understanding between the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Economic Cooperation of Hungary on Promoting Supply Chain Cooperation between Chinese and Hungarian Enterprises