China’s President Xi Jinping has praised Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s government for pursuing an “independent” foreign policy and “defying” great power politics on a European trip analysts say is aimed at exploiting divisions in the EU and Nato. Xi, who is due to travel to Hungary from Serbia on Wednesday evening as part of his five-day European tour, called for Budapest to “lead” central and eastern European nations’ relations with China in a letter published by Hungarian media group Magyar Nemzet.
“We have gone through hardships together and defied power politics together amid volatile international relations,” Xi said in an English version of the article. “We have found our respective path for sovereign states to independently conduct friendly exchanges with other countries.”
The comments appeared to be a reference to how Orbán, Europe’s longest-serving prime minister, has defied pressure from Brussels, the US and Nato, maintaining friendly relations with Moscow and deepening business ties with China.