(Reuters) – China offered to support long-time strategic partner Hungary on public security issues, going beyond trade and investment relations, during a rare meeting with Prime Minister Viktor Orban, just as NATO struggles to expand its network in Europe.
China hopes to deepen law enforcement and security ties with Hungary as the two mark their 75th year of diplomatic relations, Public Security Minister Wang Xiaohong told Orban last week, the official Xinhua news agency said.
During a visit to Budapest, Wang said he hoped such efforts would be “a new highlight of bilateral relations” in areas such as combating terrorism and transnational crimes.
They would also encompass security and law enforcement capacity building under President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative, which aims to link China with the world through trade and infrastructure links.
Wang also met Interior Minister Sandor Pinter and signed documents on law enforcement and security co-operation, Xinhua said on Sunday, but did not give details.
China’s security assurance comes as Hungary, a Russian ally, has worked to dilute its dependence on Western countries in the past decade under Orban, recently resisting pressure to approve the expansion of NATO in Europe.
Hungary is the only NATO state that has not ratified Sweden’s application to join the security bloc.
China has been critical of NATO, especially after the bloc said last year that Beijing had challenged its interests, security and values with its “ambitions and coercive policies”.
