Xi Jinping visits Hungary to celebrate a "new era" with Orbán

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping in Budapest on Thursday in a bid to boost already burgeoning ties between Beijing and its closest European Union ally. 

Xi's state visit to Hungary is the latest leg of his European tour, which also included France and Serbia. 

In recent years, Hungary, population 9.6 million, has attracted a large number of Chinese projects, mostly related to battery and electric vehicle manufacturing.

Hungarian President Tamas Sulyok warmly received Xi and his wife Peng Liyuan with military honours at the presidential palace in Budapest on Thursday morning. 

The Chinese leader arrived in the Hungarian capital on Wednesday evening after concluding his visit to Serbia, and later attended a state dinner with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.

Before his arrival, Xi paid tribute to the "friendship" cultivated by the two countries through "difficulties" in an article published in the pro-government Hungarian daily Magyar Nemzet. 

"We have together challenged the geopolitical order in an unstable international context", charting our path "as sovereign states in full independence", he wrote. 

Often at odds with Brussels, Orbán has since his return to power in 2010 advocated a foreign policy of "eastern opening", seeking closer economic ties with China, Russia and other Asian countries.

The nationalist Prime Minister stuck to his strategy even as tensions between Western nations and Beijing rose over human rights violations, the COVID pandemic, trade and Russia's invasion of Ukraine. 

Xi's three-day visit to Hungary marks 75 years of diplomatic relations between Hungary and China. 

"Our bilateral relationship is at its best moment in history, and has embarked on a golden journey (...) In the new journey of the new era, China hopes to work closely with our Hungarian friends," Xi said in the article. 

Since Hungary started promoting itself as a global electric vehicle manufacturing hub in 2022, several Chinese companies have set up shop across the country. 

According to the Hungarian government, the two countries are expected to sign at least 16 different agreements to promote their cooperation in rail and road infrastructure, nuclear energy and the automotive industry. 

Xi will meet with Orbán late on Thursday before making a statement to the press. 

The Chinese president is scheduled to leave Hungary on Friday afternoon.