Both Beijing and Budapest "believe that continuous political trust has created a solid foundation for the strengthening of Sino-Hungarian relations"
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Chinese President Xi Jinping made a joint press statement on Thursday afternoon after conducting bilateral negotiations. The Chinese president arrived in Hungary on Thursday evening, before visiting France and Serbia. Xi Jinping was received in the morning by the President of the Republic Tamás Sulyok - the Chinese head of state has not visited Hungary for 20 years. The date of the current visit is also symbolic: this year marks 75 years since Hungary and China established diplomatic relations.
"It is a great honor for us to be able to thank the President of the People's Republic of China, President Xi Jinping, on an official visit to our country on the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations. Twenty years have passed since the last time the president of China visited Hungary. It was a completely different world back then. And maybe we didn't even think at the time how much change could happen in two decades," said Viktor Orbán.
He pointed out: "We are over a pandemic that claimed millions of lives. Here I take the opportunity to personally thank Mr. President for the serious help he provided in a big trouble, with which we were able to save the lives of an extremely large number of Hungarian people". He said, "We have been living in the shadow of war for two years and there has never been such a risk of an international, or even worldwide, war as right now." "Looking back at the world economy and world trade 20 years ago, it is nothing like what we live in today," he emphasized.
Viktor Orbán said that at that time we still lived in a unicentric world order, "and now we live in a multicentric world order, and one of the pillars of this new world order is the People's Republic of China".
"The country that today determines the course of world economic and world political processes. "Hungary has always maintained friendly relations with China, which had solid political foundations," he said. Viktor Orbán said, "we have always believed in the principle of one China, we have always stood on the basis of mutual respect, we have always regarded China as a friendly country, and the wheel of history could not have turned in such a way that the two countries would have faced each other with each other". He informed that the Sino-Hungarian cooperation is continuous, "the history of long decades of unbroken friendship".
"We especially needed the president's visit right now, when there is a war going on in our neighborhood, and the world is wondering whether this war should be continued, or whether efforts should be made against peace," highlighted Orbán Viktor Hsi Chin- the importance of visiting ping.
"Our voice, Hungary's voice is a lonely voice in Europe, Europe is now on the side of war. The only exception is Hungary, which calls for an immediate ceasefire and peace negotiations and supports all international efforts that point towards peace, including the Chinese peace initiative presented by President Xi Jinping," he said in relation to the Russian-Ukrainian war. At the same time, Viktor Orbán said, "we Hungarians are convinced that there is no solution to this conflict, this war, on the battlefield, there are only dead people and destruction on the battlefield". He repeated the Hungarian position that the solution is at the negotiating table, that a cease-fire and peace negotiations are needed.
The Prime Minister said about the Hungarian-Chinese economic relations, "if we compare the economic relations of the two countries with the situation 20 years ago, we see that the value of our trade was three billion dollars at the time of the last presidential visit to China, and now it is 12 billion, i.e. we increased it fourfold". He added: then there was only one flight between the two countries, now seven major cities can be reached directly from Budapest. "Then it was friendly cooperation, a friendly cooperative country that did not make commitments other than gestures, and today our joint statement with Mr. President speaks of a strategic partnership - as they say - a partnership.
"It is an honor and a great opportunity for Hungary that China has invited us to participate in the Chinese economy, and we play a role in the modernization of the Chinese economy, and it is a great opportunity for us that China is willing to participate in the development and modernization of the Hungarian economy," said Viktor Orbán .
"Twenty years ago, you couldn't find Chinese investment in Hungary with a magnifying glass, but today I say that last year, twenty-fourths of all banks coming from Hungary came from China, and at the moment there are HUF 6,400 billion Chinese investments in Hungary," he explained.
He said that Chinese investments provide tens of thousands of people with jobs and secure and predictable livelihoods. "Of course, we compete for these investments, as Chinese companies decide in competition where to make their investments, and we Hungarians are proud to hold our own in this competition," he emphasized.
"I would also like to assure the President that Hungary will continue to provide fair and equitable conditions for Chinese companies that invest in us, and that we will create the opportunity for the most modern Western and the most modern Eastern technology to meet and build cooperation in Hungary," he said. with the Chinese president.
Viktor Orbán said that the Hungarians have serious ambitions. "The last hundred years, the XX. The 19th century was a shameful century for Hungary, which we lost and suffered extremely heavy losses on a historical scale. The Hungarians think that the XXI. We don't want to lose the 20th century, we want to win it, and for this victory we need partners, investors, trade partners and the most modern technology in the world," the Prime Minister summarized Hungary's long-term plans. Addressing the Chinese president, he said, "Hungary wants to introduce the best technology here in our own country, and there are areas in which China is the best in the world today, and in some areas it is the best by a street length."
"That's why we thank you, Mr. President, and your delegation for supporting the economic cooperation that brings the world's most modern technologies to Hungary, in electromobility, the railway industry, and the IT sector," he said.
He also thanked for the investment cooperation agreement, as well as the agreement that "we can export new agricultural and food products" to China. Furthermore, a new cooperation was established between Beijing and the Hungarian government, the details of which were reported by Viktor Orbán.
"I mention it separately - because it is not only an economic fact - but also an expression of trust that we can extend our cooperation to the entire spectrum of the nuclear industry, where there has been no cooperation between the two countries so far," he said.
He added: "This holds great potential, because in this regard, Hungary has significant international experience and prestige in the nuclear industry, as we have been in this industry for more than 50 years and currently Europe's largest nuclear development is taking place in Hungary." At the end of his speech, the Prime Minister said, "our plan is that by the beginning of the next decade, the proportion of nuclear energy in Hungary will be between 60 and 70 percent". Finally, he thanked Xi Jinping for inviting our country to Xiamen as the guest of honor of the China International Investment and Trade Exhibition, "where Hungary will go and show what we are capable of to the best of our ability".
I would like to thank you once again for your visit, Mr. President. Thank you for coming to us and we especially thank the steps that the People's Republic of China is taking to create peace - the Hungarian Prime Minister concluded his words.
In his speech, Xi Jinping thanked Viktor Orbán and the President of the Republic Tamás Sulyok for the invitation, the kind hospitality and the cordial hospitality - at the same time he conveyed the warm greetings of the Chinese people to the Hungarians.
This year we celebrate the 75th anniversary of our diplomatic contact. Over the past 75 years, the two sides have always followed the path of mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit to ensure that our relationship develops in the right direction. Thanks to this, we can now experience the best relationship between the two countries in history. I had a friendly and fruitful discussion with the Prime Minister - the head of state of the Far Eastern superpower reported about the Hungarian-Chinese summit.
He added: "we discussed our positions in depth and reached a consensus regarding the strengthening of Chinese-Hungarian relations in the new era, in topics of mutual interest." He was also informed that important documents supporting bilateral cooperation had been signed. "I have great confidence in the future bilateral cooperation between the two countries," he said.
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and I agreed that China and Hungary have always been good friends that trust and help each other and strive to establish mutually beneficial relations, he explained.
According to Xi Jinping, the Chinese-Hungarian relations must be further developed, and the cooperation between the two countries must also be enriched. "We are issuing a joint statement announcing the comprehensive strategic partnership between China and Hungary for the new era," he added.
All this enables us to give new momentum to the development of the two countries, he said.
The Chinese president said that both Beijing and Budapest "believe that continuous political trust has created a solid foundation for the strengthening of Sino-Hungarian relations". He said, "both parties maintain close cooperation at a high level, we strengthen the dialogue between our governments, between our legislatures, and between political parties. We share government experience and firmly support each other's core interests". Xi Jinping said that he greatly appreciates Hungary's firm commitment to one China and will continuously support Hungary on the path of economic development in line with its national interests. "We both agree that the belt and road initiative and Hungary's eastern opening strategy are compatible with each other," he emphasized.
That is why we are making cooperation closer in our development strategy. We will deepen economic trade and financial-economic cooperation, as well as promote the Budapest-Belgrade railway line and other key projects - the head of state shared the Chinese-Hungarian plans.
"We are extending our cooperation to emerging sectors and deploying new quality forces in order to realize the economic and social development of the two countries," he said. "We both believe that there is a solid foundation for the traditional friendship between the two countries, and we will continue to support the teaching of the languages of the two countries, make use of our cultural centers, strengthen cooperation in sports, media and self-leadership, and promote mutual learning," he said. . He also said that the plans include the development of direct flights.
China and Hungary will work together to expand the scope of this and increase Chinese cooperation in Central and Eastern European countries, he said.
"China highly values comprehensive strategy cooperation with the European Union," he added. "China supports Hungary in playing a bigger role in the European Union and in promoting greater development in the Sino-European Union cooperation," he pointed out. Turning to international and regional affairs, he reported that Hungary and China also take a similar position.
Cover photo: Prime Minister Viktor Orbán (j) welcomes Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Carmelite Monastery on May 9, 2024.
Source: MTI/Prime Minister's Press Office/Benko Vivien Cher
