OSW Commentary - China’s European bridgehead. Hungary’s dangerous relationship with Beijing

At the ideological root of the ‘opening to the East’ is Viktor Orbán’s personal conviction that the West’s civilisational dominance is coming to an end, and Hungary thus needs to strike a balance between its relations with China on the one hand and its European allies & the US on the other. [...] In February this year, on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplo- matic relations between the two countries, Hungary became the first EU and NATO country to sign an agreement with China to cooperate in the area of ‘public security’.2 In addition, it has been devel- oping bilateral relations with China through the ‘14+1’ format and the Belt & Road Initiative. [...] The ‘opening to the East’ is yet to make China an equivalent option to the EU; after all, the impact that the benefits of the single market and access to EU funds have had on the Hungarian economy is many times greater than that of China’s loans and investments. [...] The Portfolio website’s sources in Brussels have reported that the proceedings, which were launched on the basis of accusations that the Chinese government has subsidised production, will target the manufacturers of the vehicles as well as the components, which would have significant implications for Chinese-Hungarian cooperation in the field of e-mo- bility.13 This could escalate the trade war be. [...] It has become embroiled in a serious dispute with the European Commission over its failure to comply with the EU’s public pro- curement rules during the implementation of the Budapest-Belgrade rail link, which was supposed to be the flagship project of the ‘16+1’ format.