Xi concludes Europe tour
Three-nation visit reinforces Beijing’s growing influence
PRESIDENT Xi Jinping has left Hungary, concluding a tour of three European nations meant to reinforce China’s growing influence on the continent.
Xi’s plane took off from Budapest airport on Friday evening, after five days in Europe that began with a visit to France and then Serbia.
Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said on X that Xi had concluded his three-day state visit to Hungary, the last stop on his Europe visit, hailing the development of the two nations’ “strategic partnership”.
During the visit, Hungary and China signed a number of new agreements on deepening their economic and cultural cooperation.
During a news conference on Thursday, Orbán praised the “continuous, uninterrupted friendship” between the two countries since his tenure began in 2010, and promised that Hungary would continue to host further Chinese investments.
“I would like to assure the president that Hungary will continue to provide fair conditions for Chinese companies investing in our country, and that we will create the opportunity for the most modern Western and the most modern Eastern technologies to meet and build cooperation in Hungary,” Orbán said.
Beijing has invested billions in Hungary and sees the European Union member as an important foothold inside the 27-member trading bloc.
In December, Hungary announced that one of the world’s largest EV manufacturers, China’s BYD, will open its first European EV production factory in the south of the country – an inroad that could upend the competitiveness of the continent’s auto industry.
Hungary is also hosting several Chinese EV battery plants and hopes to become a global hub of lithium ion battery manufacturing, and has undertaken a railway project – part of Xi’s Belt and Road Initiative – to connect the country with the Chinesecontrolled port of Piraeus in Greece as an entry point for Chinese goods to Central and Eastern Europe.
Xi began his visit with a meeting earlier in the week with French President Emmanuel Macron. Their talks focused on trade disputes – including lifting tariff threats on Cognac exports – and Ukraine-related diplomatic efforts.
He next went to European Union candidate Serbia, where the two nations signed an agreement to build a “shared future”.