Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán arrived in Beijing on Monday morning for the latest in a series of surprise talks about the war in Ukraine that have been sharply criticized by other EU leaders.
“Peace mission 3.0,” the Hungarian leader tweeted after landing in China, just days after a similar visit to Moscow to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin caused a diplomatic storm.
Orbán met China’s President Xi Jinping, according to Chinese media reports.
China is a “key power in creating the conditions for #peace in the #RussiaUkraineWar,” Orbán said on X. “This is why I came to meet with President Xi in Beijing.”
Local media reported Sunday that Orbán was heading to Beijing and set to touch down on Monday morning in a military-government Dassault Falcon 7X plane.
The Hungarian PM had hinted at more surprise foreign visits in an interview with Swiss media conducted during his flight back to Budapest from Moscow.
That meeting caused a diplomatic storm within the EU, drawing sharp criticism from numerous leaders and an official statement from the EU diplomatic service underlining that Orbán was not representing the EU, contrary to the impression the PM gave in a statement made in Russia.
The Hungarian government had earlier canceled a meeting between Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó and his German counterpart, Annalena Baerbock, which had been scheduled for Monday.
China is the largest foreign investor in Hungary, and Chinese leader Xi Jinping made a state visit to Hungary earlier this year.
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