CGTN Europe interviewed Levente Horváth, former Consul General of Hungary in Shanghai, who is also the Director of the Eurasia Center at John von Neumann University, Hungary.
Category
🎵
MusicTranscript
00:00Well, Lavender Hovert is the former consul general of Hungary in Shanghai. Welcome to the program.
00:06What are your takeaways as this European tour ends?
00:12Thank you very much. Thank you for the invitation.
00:14I have to mention that it's not only a strategic partnership between the two countries because they already had it in
00:222017, but they have changed it now,
00:26upgraded now it for an all-weather comprehensive strategic partnership for the new era.
00:31So they have a high quality
00:34cooperation between the Hungarian and Chinese and it was a good program for
00:39celebrating the 75th anniversary of the Hungarian and Chinese diplomatic relation.
00:45Does Hungary's rolling out of the red carpet for Xi Jinping
00:49in a show of obvious warmth perhaps contrast with
00:54the wariness perhaps in the rest of the EU when it comes to China?
01:00Hungary has an own idea about
01:05diplomatic relation, about the international relations, such as we are thinking about the connectivity,
01:11we are against of the de-risking because in the history we have seen that it is not a
01:17successful story if we are trying to block using this kind of block system or
01:24sanctioning policy. So we are
01:27believing in the connectivity and we also
01:30announced the peace and we are against of the war. So China has the similar ideas about it,
01:37so that's why the two countries they have a common and mutual respect and a good cooperation.
01:43But however, Hungary is doing like that. The European Union members,
01:48they also have very strong economic relations. One month before the Chancellor of Germany shows,
01:55he has visited
01:57China and also this time Macron has welcomed Xi Jinping. Us last year
02:02he was visiting Beijing, but other prime ministers they are
02:06visiting Beijing too for seeking good cooperation with the Chinese.
02:12The EU back in
02:142019 declared China a systemic rival and the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said last year that
02:23Europe needed to de-risk its relations with Beijing.
02:27After this visit, is this de-risking or closer cooperation?
02:33I don't think the de-risking can be managed because
02:37between
02:39Europe and China there is a very strong
02:42economical
02:44relation and ties. So not only Hungary having very strong relations, however, in Hungary
02:51we are doing great in the trades. Nowadays the Chinese and Hungarian trade is
02:584% of the total trade and
03:01Chinese FDI can reach 9% of the Hungarian FDI.
03:05So we are indeed doing well, especially after the open to the east policy, but if you see the
03:13relation, the economical relation between Germany or France and China, they do have bigger
03:20investments. The Chinese have bigger investments in
03:24the Western European countries. So there is no
03:27opportunity to have de-risking. It is a political and ideological war because we are witnessing the world order
03:35changing and there will be a new
03:38multipolar world order after the last unipolar world order and the Western countries are afraid of losing their
03:46number one status
03:48position. So now they are demonizing China and they are doing a lot of political and ideological
03:56criticization on China, but behind it they are having a very strong
04:03economical trade and cooperation.
04:05Lavender Hobbit, good to talk to you. Thank you so much indeed Lavender Hobbit, the former Consul General of Hungary in Shanghai.