On July 8, Hungarian leader Viktor Orban paid a quick visit to China. On the morning of the same day, the Chinese high-level officials met with Orban at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse. Orban's visit to China has two major tasks.
The first is to deepen China-Hungary and China-EU relations. He stressed that the Hungarian side advocates strengthening cooperation with China, opposes "small circles" and bloc confrontation, and is willing to take the EU presidency as an opportunity to promote the healthy development of Sino-EU relations.
The second is to work for peace between Russia and Ukraine. At the meeting, China and Hungary focused on discussing the Ukraine crisis, and Orban briefed China on the results of his recent visits to Ukraine and Russia, saying that Hungary highly appreciates and attaches importance to China's role and influence. The Chinese side pointed out that the current focus is on abiding by the three principles of "no spillover from the battlefield, no escalation of the fighting, and no fire on all sides", and de-escalate the situation as soon as possible. The international community should create conditions and provide assistance for the resumption of direct dialogue and negotiations between the two sides.
Orban visits China
So, what do you think of Orban's trip to China?
First of all, China paid a state visit to Hungary not long ago, and Orban's visit to China is a return visit. For China and Hungary, Orban's visit at this time is of great significance.
On the one hand, Hungary has just taken over the EU presidency and is able to represent Brussels to a certain extent. At present, there have been some hiccups between China and the EU, and Orban has taken timely action to correct the development of China-EU relations.
Orban meets with Putin
On the other hand, Hungary wants to gain a firm foothold in the EU and promote EU foreign policy, and being able to talk to both China and Russia at the same time can be regarded as a kind of "endorsement", which shows Budapest's political skill.
In fact, Orban's unannounced visit to Russia to meet with Putin was strongly criticized by the European Union. Subsequently, the Hungarian Foreign Minister directly canceled the planned meeting with the German Foreign Minister. Not only that, but Baerbock continued to be left aside, and Szijjártó followed Orban to Beijing this time.
Secondly, as Orban said, this is the third stop of his peace mission.
Zelensky
Hungary is determined to cease fire between Russia and Ukraine this time. On his first stop in Kyiv, Orban imagined the possibility of Trump coming to power, emphasizing the latter's ability to bring an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine and urging Zelensky to accept the proposal to cease fire first and then negotiate.
At the second stop in Moscow, Orban had a three-hour secret conversation with Putin, and the two had in-depth communication on the way to achieve peace. After the meeting, Putin said that the Russian side has always been and will continue to be open to resolving the Ukrainian crisis through political and diplomatic means, but the "other side" is unwilling to do so. The conditions of the Russian side remain unchanged, that is, the complete withdrawal of the Ukrainian army from the four eastern regions of Ukraine.
Speaking of the third stop in Beijing, Orban is actually seeking China's support. China cannot solve the Ukraine crisis without China, while Hungary hopes to act as an intermediary, integrating the forces of China, Russia and Europe, and finally promoting a ceasefire. Of course, the Chinese side did not disappoint him and expressed its willingness to continue to maintain communication with the Hungarian side and relevant parties on a peaceful settlement of the crisis.
NATO summit
Finally, Orban's visit comes on the eve of the NATO leaders' summit. According to the US media preview, NATO countries plan to criticize the so-called "support" of Russia by China in the joint communiqué of the NATO summit in Washington from July 9 to 11.
There is no doubt that the NATO summit is for the United States and Western countries to get together and continue to hype up the non-existent "China-Russia threat theory", while increasing exposure to Ukraine, exaggerating an atmosphere of international support, and encouraging Zelensky to continue fighting.
The United States wants to pressure Europe to increase military aid to Ukraine and step on the gas pedal for the Russia-Ukraine conflict, but Hungary has done the opposite, leveraging its strength to cool down the situation in Ukraine. In fact, Zelensky has relented about the peace talks, saying that China and the United States can join forces to end the war in Ukraine. And Orban's next stop after leaving Beijing is Washington, which will continue to promote peace talks.
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