BEIJING — Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday called on international powers to help Russia and Ukraine resume direct dialogue and negotiations, during a meeting with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán on Monday, according to state broadcaster CCTV.
Orbán made a surprise visit to China after making similar trips to Russia and Ukraine to discuss prospects for a peaceful solution in Ukraine.
Orbán praised China’s “constructive and important initiatives” to achieve peace and described Beijing as a stabilizing force amid global instability, CCTV reported.
In addition to Russia and Ukraine, the end of the war “depends on the decision of the three world powers, the United States, the European Union and China,” Orbán wrote in a Facebook post showing him shaking hands with Xi.
The two leaders met just two months ago, when Orbán welcomed Xi in Hungary as part of a three-country European tour that also took him to France and Serbia, which unlike the other two is not part of the European Union or NATO.
During Orbán’s tenure, Hungary has built considerable economic and political ties with China. The European nation has several Chinese electric vehicle battery facilities, and in December it announced that EV major BYD would open its first European production plant in the south of the country.
“Peace mission 3.0,” Orbán wrote on Monday morning to accompany a photo on social media site X showing him after getting off the plane in Beijing, greeted by Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Hya Chunying and other officials.
His previously unannounced visit follows similar trips last week to Moscow and kyiv, where he proposed that Ukraine consider agreeing to an immediate ceasefire with Russia.
His visit to Moscow drew condemnation from kyiv and European leaders.
“The number of countries that can talk to both sides of the conflict is decreasing,” Orbán said. “Hungary is slowly becoming the only country in Europe that can talk to the whole world.”
Hungary took over the rotating EU presidency in early July and Putin suggested that Orbán travel to Moscow as the top representative of the European Council. Several senior European officials rejected that suggestion, saying Orbán had no authority for anything other than a discussion of bilateral relations.
The Hungarian prime minister, widely seen as the leader of an EU country with the closest ties to Putin, has routinely blocked, delayed or watered down the bloc’s efforts to help Kiev and impose sanctions on Moscow over its war in Ukraine. He has long advocated a cessation of hostilities in Ukraine, but without outlining what that might mean for the country’s territorial integrity or its security going forward.
That stance has frustrated Hungary’s allies in the EU and NATO, who have condemned Russia’s actions as a violation of international law and a threat to the security of countries in eastern Europe.
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