China Courts Hungary with Security Cooperation Offer Amid Budapest's Growing Ties with Beijing and Rift with EU, NATO
• China offered to deepen security cooperation with Hungary, underscoring Budapest's warming ties with Beijing as Hungarian officials snubbed a visiting US delegation • China's public security minister met with Hungary's Prime Minister Orbán and proposed cooperation on counter-terrorism, transnational crime, and law enforcement capacity building • The outreach comes as Hungary nurtures closer links with Beijing, being the only EU country to attend a Belt and Road forum in China last year • The prospect of security ties between Budapest and Beijing arises amid strained relations between Hungary and its EU/NATO allies • Hungarian officials refused to meet a visiting US congressional delegation while Orbán expressed preference for seeing Donald Trump return as US President