You can support the Hungarian government’s robust policies against illegal immigration and its support for the family unit. But you cannot claim to be tough on China and also support Viktor Orban. Because the prime minister of Hungary is Chinese President Xi Jinping’s happy servant. A servant, that is to say, of Xi’s keystone effort to subvert American power, values, and prosperity.
Welcoming Xi as he arrived in Budapest on Thursday, Orban saluted Communist China as the nation that now “determines the course of world economic and world political processes.” Orban added, “Hungary has always maintained friendly relations with China … we have always believed in the principle of One China, we have always stood on the basis of mutual respect, we have always regarded China as a friendly country.” Note the “One China” repudiation of Taiwan.
But this is also a visit bearing significant Chinese Communist Party patronage. Orban has already welcomed China’s Huawei 5G signals intelligence service into the lives of his citizens and possibly NATO infrastructure. But this visit will see Xi and Orban coronate major new investments, including a Chinese electric vehicle plant. That plant will allow Xi to skirt likely upcoming European Union restrictions on Chinese car dumping into the European market (EU countries cannot impose tariffs on one another).
Still, the power dynamics in this relationship are obviously very one-sided. Indeed, so subservient is the apparently not-so-strong strongman Orban to Xi that he has even allowed Chinese diplomats to search Hungarian citizens seeking to watch Xi’s motorcade. As the Associated Press reports, the Chinese diplomats searched a Hungarian parliamentarian for Taiwanese flags or other political symbols that the CCP views as undesirable. This is what happens when you sacrifice your sovereignty for communist gold.
Orban has no qualms about being a CCP puppet. He apes CCP talking points that undermine Taiwan’s democratic legitimacy. He opposes even minimal EU efforts to de-risk against the threat of Chinese espionage tools and import activities that are designed to boost its military (a not-so-slight concern for the U.S. military). And, as he did again on Thursday, Orban pretends to seek a just peace between Ukraine and Russia while failing to offer even the slightest pressure on Xi to exert his influence on Russian President Vladimir Putin toward reaching such a peace.
Contrast Orban’s kowtowing to Xi with his treatment of the United States.
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After all, Orban barely hides the fact that he believes his American conservative supporters are fools. Addressing a CPAC gathering in August 2022, Orban saluted the West’s victory over communism in the 20th century. Referencing contemporary communists, Orban added, “We have to defeat them again.” Orban clearly believes his American conservative friends are too stupid to recognize that Xi leads the Chinese Communist Party. And Orban’s arrogant disdain includes those at the very highest levels. How Orban must laugh, for example, as former President Donald Trump offers obsequious praise for Orban while simultaneously claiming that he’s the candidate who will offer tougher action against China.
Orban is the democratic leader of his country. He has every right to pursue whatever foreign policy pleases him. But let’s stop pretending he’s an American ally. He’s anything but.