Hungary’s Orban holds talks with Xi during surprise Beijing visit, days after meeting Putin
Orban, who has been widely criticized in the West for his Russia-friendly positioning amid Moscow’s onslaught on Ukraine, posted a photo of his arrival at a Beijing airport with the caption “Peace mission 3.0” on social media platform X.
Xi and Orban would discuss “issues of common concern,” China’s Foreign Ministry said Monday in its first statement on the previously unannounced visit. The two leaders began their meeting at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse Monday morning, Chinese state media reported.
Orban’s visit comes a day ahead of the start of a NATO summit in Washington, where US President Joe Biden will host leaders from the bloc, which includes Hungary, and rally continued support for Ukraine’s defense.
China is also expected to be on the agenda of that gathering, as NATO leaders have become increasingly alarmed about what they say is its backing for Moscow’s war effort through the provision of dual-use goods and other economic and diplomatic support.
Beijing, Moscow’s most important diplomatic ally, has said it has not provided weapons to either side of the conflict and defended what it calls its strict controls on dual-use exports.
China claims neutrality in the war despite close and deepening ties with Russia, which Xi and Russian President Vladimir Putin most recently hailed during a meeting on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit last week in Kazakhstan.
Beijing has called for a ceasefire in Ukraine without first stipulating a withdrawal of Russian troops – a proposal seen by Western critics as positioned to help Russia consolidate illegal territorial gains.
Orban, who has long been Putin’s greatest ally in Europe, has also been campaigning for a ceasefire as opposed to military support for Ukraine.
China is a “key power in creating the conditions for peace” in the war, Orban wrote in an X post Monday. “This is why I came to meet with President Xi in Beijing, just two months after his official visit to Budapest,” he added.
Orban and Xi last met in May, when the Chinese leader was welcomed with fanfare for a state visit to Hungary.
Then, Orban defied a mood of mounting European concern about a security threat posed by Beijing to upgrade the countries’ ties to an “all-weather comprehensive strategic partnership.”
Orban’s visit to Beijing and his stops last week in Russia and Ukraine come just a week after Hungary assumed the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union – a position that has been looked on skeptically by many leaders across the bloc, where Orban is widely seen as illiberal outlier.
It also comes amid ongoing concern – and deep divisions – about how and when the war in Ukraine will be resolved, nearly two and half years after Russia’s invasion.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was among European leaders to criticize Orban’s decision to travel to Moscow and meet with Putin last week – the first such visit from an EU leader since April 2022 – saying “appeasement will not stop” Putin.
“Only unity and determination will pave the path to a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in Ukraine,” she added.
Orban and Putin last week said they discussed ways to end the conflict in Ukraine, with NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg later telling reporters that Orban would likely brief other NATO leaders on those talks in Washington.
Orban’s visit to Moscow followed his stop in Kyiv earlier last week, when the Hungarian leader said he had asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to think about a ceasefire “first” to “speed up peace talks” – a proposal dismissed by Zelensky’s office. The embattled country has called for a restoration of its territory as a condition of peace.
CNN’s Isaac Yee and Hassan Tayier contributed to this report.
Orban's meeting with Xi in Beijing further strengthens their "all-weather comprehensive strategic partnership," as mentioned during Xi's state visit to Hungary in May. In light of the ongoing tensions between Ukraine and Russia, Orban advocates for China as a "key power in creating the conditions for peace" in the conflict.
