My Impromptus today has a slew of items, as usual. But the first several concern China. And Russia. They are close allies. Putin was in Beijing last week, burnishing the “no limits” partnership that he and Xi Jinping have developed. This is bad news for the Free World, as should not have to be said. Putin and Xi are determined foes of freedom and democracy everywhere.
Putin is waging a war of annihilation against the Ukrainians; Xi is committing genocide against the Uyghurs. Both Russia and China seek to control or influence as much of the world as they can.
In Europe, there is one government that has warm relations with Russia and China — and Iran. Viktor Orbán’s, in Hungary. Very seldom does a U.S. Republican say so. But Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader in the Senate, did. He spoke strongly against Orbán on the Senate floor last Thursday. I note this in my column today.
Two weeks ago, Xi and Orbán huddled in Budapest. Orbán said that Hungary and China had formed “a strategic partnership.” He also said, “China is one of the pillars of the new world order.”
In my column, I quote from Senator McConnell’s floor speech. I will quote more amply now.
McConnell began,
This week, Putin is in Beijing, tending to what Russia and China have called a “friendship without limits.” But last week, it was President Xi who took to the road. And notably, his warmest welcome was in Budapest, Hungary.
The visit from the PRC’s leader came as more of our European NATO allies are waking up — not only to the harsh reality of Russian aggression, but also to the linked threats facing Western security and prosperity; to the urgent requirements of defense production; and to the particular challenge the PRC poses as a systemic rival.
McConnell has identified a trend — but there is an exception to it, as he pointed out: Hungary.
Viktor Orbán’s government has cultivated the PRC as its top trading partner outside the EU. It has given Beijing sweeping law-enforcement authority to hunt dissidents on Hungarian soil. It was the first European country to join Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative, which other European governments — like Prime Minister Meloni’s in Italy — have wisely decided to leave.
And Hungary has doubled down on Huawei. After the previous U.S. administration went to great lengths to encourage Europe to reject it, Hungary has let the PRC communications giant bake Chinese technology into the country’s 5G expansion. Even as other European nations are paying vast sums to extract Huawei from their communications infrastructure, Hungary is now home to Huawei’s European regional logistics hub — a veritable gateway to the West.
This is a victory for the PRC, obviously. A foothold in Europe.
“And last week,” McConnell continued,
Prime Minister Orbán’s government signed 19 more agreements with the PRC, from transportation infrastructure to potential nuclear cooperation. A joint statement described the two countries’ relationship as “an all-weather comprehensive strategic partnership.” That’s between Hungary and the PRC. But the details of China’s growing influence in Budapest should raise red flags for anyone seriously concerned about strategic competition with China.
Politicians in Washington who sound toughest about China are often those who are fondest of Orbán. McConnell noted this dichotomy, in this refreshingly frank speech.
He also said, “Hungary’s leaders have cozied up to America’s greatest strategic adversaries”: Russia, China, and Iran. “A NATO government that fawns over a Russian neo-Soviet imperialist” (Putin). “A European nation that rolls out the red carpet for greater predation, coercion, and espionage from a Communist regime” (China’s).
And “how about sending high-profile diplomatic and trade missions to Tehran? Hungary’s voluntary legitimization of the world’s most active state sponsor of terrorism?”
McConnell added, “I didn’t think conservatives had any time for those who suck up to Iran.”
He kept going:
America has an interest in strong allies who are willing to pull more of the weight of collective defense in the face of threats from Russia, Iran, and China.
And we could have welcomed two more such allies to our ranks much sooner if not for Orbán’s obstruction of Sweden and Finland’s accession to NATO. Not only do these countries have robust defense industries and capable militaries, they also have companies that offer safer alternatives to Chinese 5G technology.
And while many of us in Washington were urging the EU to do more to support Ukraine, Hungary was blocking greater EU burden-sharing.
McConnell concluded,
Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea are working together to undermine us. And we need to move faster to rebuild the hard power we need to deter and defeat aggression, and hold one another accountable to share the burden of collective defense.
What an excellent statement — on a topic of burning importance. Will it make a dent? I doubt it. Viktor Orbán is far more popular in the Republican Party than the Republican leader in the Senate is. Who would get the warmer welcome at CPAC? At Heritage? On Fox News? At the Republican convention? The Republican Party is about to nominate Donald Trump for the third time. (For president, that is — amazingly enough.) Trump and Orbán are a mutual admiration society. “It’s like we’re twins,” said Trump to Orbán, when they met at the White House in 2019.
Mitch McConnell is a man out of time — a traditional American conservative in an age of right-wing populism. The likes of McConnell are leaving the scene; the likes of Senators J. D. Vance and Josh Hawley are rising. You don’t need to be a weatherman to know which way the wind is blowing. But this makes some of us appreciate McConnell and that dwindling band all the more. May they raise their voices, for as long as possible.