Hungary: from fighting autocracy to embracing autocrats

apr. 23, 2021 Estonian Life No. 16 2021

It might be rank hyperbole, but the current Hungarian government, seems to be replacing its former fight for human rights and freedoms with quenching a thirst for economic success. It just has formerly blocked the European Union’s official statement criticizing the repression of the democratic opposition in Hong Kong.

Observers suggest this was expected since Orban is forced to grovel in front of Bejing in expectations of a hugely disadvantageous loan from China to build the Shanghai’s Fudan University campus in Budapest. The enormous cost of this campus will outstrip the total that the government spends on all of Hungary’s universities each year.

Fudan University is said to have links to Chinese security agencies. It has even established a school for spies in its program. We remember that American Central European University was forced to leave Hungary. With Fudan University being its replacement, one can easily identify a major political shift in the government.

Hungary’s agreement to join in applying sanctions against China one month earlier to protest Beijing’s crimes in Xingjiang province against the Uyghur minority, according to Budapest, was done unwillingly. It was immediately followed by the friendly hosting of China’s defense minister. The Hungarian foreign minister has since denounced the sanctions as “pointless, self-aggrandizing and harmful”.

Laas Leivat, Toronto

Hungary: from fighting autocracy to embracing autocrats

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