The primary purpose of Xi Jinping’s three-day visit to Hungary might be to ensure that Hungary can help China gain market share in the EU, as Beijing and Budapest prepare to sign a total of 16 bilateral agreements.
The Chinese president has arrived in Budapest late Wednesday, in the third and last stop of his European visit.
During his three-day stay, Xi Jinping and his delegation are expected to conclude a series of economic agreements with Budapest, as China sees Hungary as an important bridgehead in conquering European markets: among other things, Chinese companies are building electric car and battery factories.
The two sides are expected to sign 16 agreements, while another two are still being negotiated. The deals include Hungarian infrastructural developments and railway, road and energy projects related to Beijing’s top-priority Belt and Road Initiative.
Isn’t this visit mostly centered around two things?
The Budapest-Belgrade HSR - $3 billion to connect two cities totalling more than 3 million people?
The BYD factory in Hungary - providing jobs to a country with cheap and skilled labour to build cars?
Less of a bridgehead, more of a “if Europe wants to removed and moan about foreign investment into Hungary, why weren’t they doing this themselves?”