Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó of Hungary visited Beijing, China for the World War II victory parade on Wednesday, 3 September. Prime Minister Robert Fico of Slovakia was also present at the event; and since so was President Vladimir Putin of Russia, both state officials from the EU have received some criticism from liberal politicians from the West.
FM Szijjártó, however, explained why he felt the need to attend in a Facebook post. He wrote:
‘Unfortunately, economic, security, and social tensions and crises around the world are leading to a renewed trend toward bloc formation. This is completely contrary to Hungary's interests.
We are interested in East–West cooperation, and Hungary has demonstrated the significant benefits of a civilized East–West cooperation. A very important resource for the Hungarian economy's performance over the past decade has been our role as a meeting point between the Eastern and Western economies. We Hungarians are interested in re-establishing global cooperation based on mutual respect.’
In a follow-up post shared shortly after, the Foreign Minister also called the Chinese–Hungarian economic cooperation 'a true success story', pointing out that 31 per cent of all Chinese investment coming into Europe was made in Hungary last year.
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