As Poland threw out the red carpet for an American president, Hungary was again serving as Communist China's doormat.
Visiting Poland, President Joe Biden is showing due recognition of that nation's commitment to its U.S. ally. Unlike many European nations with far larger economies, Poland has invested heavily in defense spending and the U.S.-led democratic international order. Warsaw recognizes that being part of NATO means more than freeloading off America's defense budget. And while maintaining good relations with China, Poland also adopts a cooperative and forward-looking engagement with Taiwan. At least in part, Biden's visit to Poland will be designed to draw Warsaw into a more hesitant stance toward Beijing.
There's a striking contrast between how Poland approaches its respective relationships with the United States and China and how nearby Hungary does so.
Indeed, as Biden arrived in Warsaw on Monday, Prime Minister Viktor Orban's government was again bending the knee to Beijing. Hosting China's foreign policy chief, Wang Yi, in Budapest, Hungarian Foreign Affairs Minister Peter Szijjarto lauded China. In a show of extraordinary disregard for Hungary's Western partners and neighboring Ukraine, Szijjarto also offered his support for China's fictional Ukraine-Russia peace proposal.
VIKTOR ORBAN'S HUNGARY STANDS WITH RUSSIA AND CHINA, NOT THE US
That peace proposal is utterly unserious, designed only to place a thin veil over China's support of Russia in Ukraine. Beijing is increasingly fearful that its support for Moscow over the war might jeopardize its trade and political relationships with the European Union. You would think, after all, that European leaders might not be too happy to see a major trade partner offer political cover and economic support, let alone possible military support, for a nation engaged in the largest ground war in Europe since 1945.
You would think.
Still, Wang's Hungarian fete wasn't over. Orban then hosted the Central Foreign Affairs Commission director for a private dinner. The intimate dinner appears to have gone well. Unlike in his often prickly dealings with other foreign ministers, Wang had nothing but praise for Orban. A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman observed that Wang "said Hungary is a good friend of China in Europe, and the two sides have respected, understood, and trusted each other and have forged deep friendship." Coming from China, that is high praise.
Put simply, when it comes to Poland and Hungary, the question of who is a better U.S. ally is not a complicated one. The better question might be whether Hungary is an American ally at all.