Minister-Xi's Visit Confirmed For 8-10 May

(MNI) London - Hungarian cabinet minister Gergely Gulyas has confirmed that Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to Hungary will take place 8-10 May. Xi's Hungary trip comes at the end of a European tour that will include visits to France and Serbia as part of the Chinese president's first visit to the continent since the COVID-19 pandemic. Hungary is seen as one of the EU states that has maintained close relations with Beijing while other members have sought to 'de-risk' their supply chains or even, in the case of Lithuania, essentially sever ties with China.

• Bloomberg reports: "Prime Minister Viktor Orban is seeking to expand economic ties with China, including by broadening its participation in the Belt and Road Initiative to include further rail modernization projects as well as the financing of a new crude pipeline connecting Hungary and Serbia."
• A security deal signedin February could even see joint Hungarian-Chinese police patrols on the EU member's streets. The close relations between Budepest and Beijing were reinforced in October 2023, when Orban visitedChina for a conference on the Belt and Road Initiative. Orban was the sole EU head of gov't to attend the event.
• For the EU, Orban's close relations with China (and indeed Russia's Vladimir Putin) remains a consistent cause of friction between Brussels and Budapest. Any announcements of new deals between Hungary and China during Xi's visit are unlikely to ameliorate the situation.