Budapest, 9 May 2024
Embarking on a Golden Voyage in China-Hungary Relations – by Xi Jinping, President of the People’s Republic of China
In May when the fragrance of flowers and grass on the Great Hungarian Plain fills the air, I will pay a state visit to Hungary at the invitation of President Tamás Sulyok and Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. This will be my second time to come to this land of beauty and abundance in a span of 15 years.
Over the past 15 years, I have met with visiting Hungarian leaders on many occasions. We have forged a deep friendship. I very much look forward to returning to your country to renew our friendship and work with my friends on a new blueprint for China-Hungary relations and cooperation in the new era.
Hungary is home to magnificent natural landscapes and talented people and is known for its profound historical and cultural heritage. The epic works of the patriotic poet Sándor Petőfi and the powerful melodies of the great virtuoso pianist Franz Liszt impressed the world. The Hungarian people, being industrious, intelligent, open, inclusive, pioneering and creative, have contributed to human civilization with inventions of the modern ballpoint pen, holography, and the Rubik’s Cube, to name just a few.
Although our two countries are geographically far apart, our two peoples have been friends for centuries. China and Hungary stood together in solidarity and looked out for each other in trying times of the global financial crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving behind many touching stories of friendship. Our long-standing friendship is as mellow and rich as Tokaji wine.
This year marks the 75th anniversary of China-Hungary diplomatic relations. The bilateral relationship has since been developing and growing steadily and soundly with tangible results achieved in all fields. We respect and treat each other as equals, and pursue mutually beneficial cooperation. We see each other as a priority partner of cooperation. We have gone through hardships together and defied power politics together amid volatile international situations. We have found our respective path for sovereign states to independently conduct friendly exchanges with other countries.
Over the past 75 years, China and Hungary have remained good friends and treated each other with sincerity. We have kept our original aspiration for friendship in mind since the establishment of diplomatic ties. We have respected and supported the development path of our own choice respectively. We have shown understanding and provided support to each other on issues that bear on our respective core interests and are of major concern to us. We have taken delight in each other’s progress in national development and revitalization. We have developed a high degree of political mutual trust. Our bilateral relationship is at its best in history, and has embarked on a golden voyage.
Over the past 75 years, China and Hungary have remained good partners for win-win cooperation. Focusing on high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, our two countries are strengthening synergy in development strategies and deepening results-oriented cooperation in such areas as investment, infrastructure, finance, new energy, and telecommunication technology. Our cooperation is injecting new impetus into global economic recovery. Today Hungary is China’s top investment destination as well as its important trading partner in Central and Eastern Europe. Our bilateral cooperation is strong, fruitful, and dynamic.
Over the past 75 years, China and Hungary have remained good friends and learned from each other. The Hungarian Cultural Center in Beijing has been operating for years with success. The China Cultural Center in Budapest will soon be officially inaugurated. Hungarian language courses are on the curriculum of many Chinese universities. The Confucius Institutes and Confucius Classrooms are gaining popularity and participation in Hungary. The Hungarian-Chinese bilingual school in Budapest has fostered a great number of Hungarians who are carrying forward our friendship. Exchanges and mutual visits at the subnational level are growing. Direct passenger flights reach double-digit per week. Measures to facilitate two-way travels are in place and delivering substantial results. The more exchanges between our peoples, the stronger the foundations of our friendship will be.
Currently, China and Hungary both stand at an important stage of development. China is pursuing high-quality development and promoting high-standard opening up, and is working to build itself into a great modern socialist country in all respects and advancing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation on all fronts through the Chinese path to modernization.
Hungary on its part is making every effort for greater development. During my upcoming visit, I hope to work together with Hungarian leaders to renew China-Hungary traditional friendship, deepen mutually beneficial cooperation, and take the China-Hungary comprehensive strategic partnership to new heights.
—Our two countries need to carry forward our tradition of friendship and strengthen the political foundations of bilateral relationship. Stronger political mutual trust is the cornerstone of rapid and steady development of China-Hungary relations. China is willing to build on the 75 years of our diplomatic relations and work with Hungary to make top-level designs for the relationship from a strategic and long-term perspective, sustain the strong momentum of high-level interactions, and support regular exchanges and policy communication between our governments, legislatures and political parties. We should continue to firmly support each other on issues that involve our respective core interests. This will provide a strong political guarantee for the high-standard development of China-Hungary relations.
—Our two countries need to forge greater synergy in development strategies and strive for new highlights in practical cooperation. We will work with Hungary to forge greater synergy between the Belt and Road Initiative and Hungary’s Eastern Opening strategy, and accelerate the construction of the Budapest-Belgrade railway link and other significant cooperation projects. China will stay committed to promoting high-standard opening up. We will strengthen cooperation with Hungary in clean energy, artificial intelligence, digital economy, green development, and other emerging areas, foster new quality productive forces, and serve our respective high-quality development.
—Our two countries need to expand cultural and people-to-people exchanges and cement public support for bilateral relations. People-to-people connectivity is an endless source of strength for China-Hungary relations. China is willing to expand with Hungary exchanges and cooperation in education, culture, tourism, sport, youth, the media and at the subnational level, support the teaching of each other’s languages, make full use of cultural centers, and encourage more communication and interaction between peoples and between institutions. We will continue to work with Hungary to upgrade mutual visa facilitation, expand direct flights, and facilitate people-to-people exchanges.
—Our two countries need to lead regional cooperation and keep to the right direction of China-Europe relations. The cooperation between China and Central and Eastern European countries conforms with the trends of the times and development, and serves the common interests of all relevant countries. It is also an important complement to the overall China-Europe relationship. Recently, there are signs of stability for the better in China-Europe relations. As comprehensive strategic partners, China and Europe have a broad range of shared interests. Their relationship is more cooperative than competitive and features more consensus than differences. The two sides have the responsibility to provide together more stability for the world and more impetus for global development. We are ready to work with Hungary to deepen and substantiate China’s cooperation with Central and Eastern European countries and to ensure steady and sustained growth of China-Europe relations.
—Our two countries need to enhance communication on international affairs and join hands to address global challenges. At present, transformation not seen in a century is accelerating across the world and global challenges keep emerging. The international community must make a response together. China and Hungary have similar views and positions on international and regional situations. It is important that we stay committed to solidarity and collaboration, champion humanity’s common values of peace, development, fairness, justice, democracy and freedom, and practice true multilateralism. We should advocate an equal and orderly multipolar world and a universally beneficial and inclusive economic globalization, endeavor continuously to build a community with a shared future for mankind, and inject more positive energy into safeguarding world peace and promoting common development.
As an old Chinese saying goes, “No mountain and ocean can distance people with shared aspirations.” Our Hungarian friends often say, “A good friend is more precious than gold.” On the new journey of the new era, China looks forward to working closely with our Hungarian friends to write new stories of friendship, open a new chapter of cooperation, and strive for a better future for the two peoples.
Source – Foreign Ministry of China
Sino-Hungarian cooperation is the story of long decades of continuous, uninterrupted friendship, the Prime Minister of Hungary declared in Budapest after a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping
Budapest, 9 May 2024
Viktor Orbán emphasized: Hungary has always maintained friendly relations with China, and it has always had solid political foundations. Hungary has always adhered to the “one China principle”, they stood on the basis of mutual respect and regarded China as a friendly country, he emphasized. “The wheel of history could not turn in such a way that the two countries would have faced each other,” added the prime minister.
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán assured his support for the Chinese peace initiative aimed at ending the conflict in Ukraine on Thursday, in a joint press statement with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Today, Europe is 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, the Prime Minister said. He emphasized: this is how we support the Chinese peace initiative presented by Xi Jinping. This conflict, this war, has no solution on the battlefield; there are only dead people and destruction on the battlefield – Viktor Orbán added, stressing: “we need a ceasefire and peace negotiations”.
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán pointed out that there is a great opportunity to expand the cooperation between Hungary and China to the entire spectrum of the nuclear industry. According to the Hungarian Prime Minister, this is not only an economic fact, but also an expression of trust. In the field of the nuclear industry, Hungary has significant international experience and prestige, he underlined.
We have been in this industry for more than fifty years, and the largest nuclear development in Europe is still taking place in Hungary, the Prime Minister said. He added: the plan is that by the beginning of the next decade, the proportion of nuclear energy in Hungary will be between 60 and 70 percent. Viktor Orbán also thanked the Chinese head of state that they were able to agree on Hungary being able to export new agricultural and food products to China.
Viktor Orbán emphasized that it is an honor and a great opportunity for Hungary that China has invited us to participate in the modernization of its economy, and that it is “willing to participate in the development and modernization of the Hungarian economy”. He recalled: twenty years ago, you could only find Chinese investment in Hungary with a magnifying glass, and last year, three-quarters of incoming investments came from this state, and they provide employment, a safe and predictable livelihood to tens of thousands of people.
The Prime Minister mentioned that we are proud of the fact that we hold our own in the competition for these investments, and then stated that Hungary continues to provide fair and decent conditions for Chinese companies that invest in us. We are creating the opportunity for the most modern Western and the most modern Eastern technology to meet and build cooperation in Hungary – said the Prime Minister, emphasizing that the Hungarians have serious ambitions, since after the previous “was a shameful century that we lost”, the 21st. we want to win the century.
He emphasized: for this victory, we need partners, investors and the world’s most modern technology. Hungary wants to introduce the best technology, and there are areas in which China is now the best in the world, in some cases by the length of the street. The prime minister thanked the Chinese head of state for supporting the bringing of these technologies to Hungary, highlighting the areas of electromobility, the railway industry and the IT sector.
Source – Hungarian Government (translated from Hungarian)