Hungarian Foreign Minister Wants West to Avoid War With China
Jose Nino
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According to Hungarian news outlet MTI, Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó declared that mutually beneficial cooperation with China is preferable to rivalry.
“We have not entered, and we don’t want to enter, a competition between China and Europe or China and Hungary,” Szijjártó said at a news conference. He believes that this relationship should not be discussed in military terms.
The Hungarian foreign minister believes mutually beneficial cooperation should include “the automotive revolution,” he stated, pointing out that European manufacturers have largely become reliant on South Korean and Chinese batteries. Szijjártó stated that political decisions with regards to the car industry, which is key to Europe’s economic future, have been made in Brussels.
Although developments for electric car production have been made in Europe, European politicians have forgotten to develop battery production capacity, which Chinese companies largely dominate, Szijjártó observed. “So anyone who advocates the separation of the Chinese and European economies risks dealing a massive blow to the European economy,” he stated.
The Hungarian foreign minister noted that one of the most impactful consequences of the Russo-Ukrainian war has been the world’s drift towards bloc formation, which he believes is bad news for Central Europe.
“We believe in connectivity, in creating and maintaining links, rather than bloc building,” he said, declaring that cooperation with China should be tighter.
In a concluding remark, he mentioned China’s peace plan for Ukraine, which he believes could be an optimal starting point for international negotiations. “We would like to see peace talks start as soon as possible, a ceasefire as soon as possible, because the sooner there is a ceasefire, the sooner peace talks start, the more lives we can save in Ukraine,” he stated.
Hungary remains the sanest country on the European continent. Unlike EU and NATO members, who are captured by universalism, Hungary remains a rational nation that pursues a realist foreign policy guided by national interests as opposed to utopian idealism.
China merits criticism for its dubious immigration and trade practices, which can be solved through common sense immigration restriction and protectionism, but this does not justify military action against it.
Instead, the US should pursue an America First foreign policy that eschews military action abroad while emphasizing border security and economic nationalism. A great power tragedy of colossal proportions could be avoided by following this path of realism and restraint.
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