Cutting ties with China would amount to brutal economic suicide for Europe, especially after the continent’s competitiveness has plummeted significantly in recent years for various reasons, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said in Tianjin, China, on Tuesday.
According to a ministry statement, the minister, who was taking part in a panel discussion at the World Economic Forum, the so-called Summer Davos, said that „connectivity is good, repeated world blockages are bad.” He pointed out that this was the basis for the government’s policy on economic relations between Europe and China.
He underlined that, based on certain trends, many EU member states see China as a risk or a threat, while Hungary believes that cooperation with the East Asian country can bring many benefits.
Cutting economic ties between Europe and China, so-called de-risking, would amount to the „brutal suicide” of the European economy, especially after the continent’s competitiveness has plummeted in recent years
– he warned.
„It would therefore be in Europe’s interest to cooperate with China on the basis of mutual respect and mutual benefit”
– he concluded.
Péter Szijjártó said that Hungary sees the East-West division of labor as a great opportunity and the only way to improve European competitiveness.
He said that for decades, the basis for predictable economic growth was a combination of advanced Western technologies and easily available, relatively cheap energy resources from the East, but that this has now been lost, as European-Russian ties have been broken as a result of the war in Ukraine.
„If we cut ties between Europe and China, it would knock out the European economy”
– he said, stressing that annual trade between the two countries is worth €865 billion.
He pointed out that
China’s gross domestic product (GDP) now exceeds that of the EU.
He said that in 2010, China’s share of world GDP was only 9 percent, while the EU’s was 22 percent. However, the situation has now reversed for various reasons, with these figures now standing at 18 percent and 17 percent, respectively.
„If we see China as a rival, not a cooperative partner, Europe loses out”
– he said.
He also pointed out that in order to renew the automotive industry, which is the backbone of the European economy, Western manufacturers need electric batteries, and in this field, they have become completely dependent on Eastern, particularly Chinese, companies.
As for the “Central Corridor” linking China to Europe, Szijjártó said that the development of new routes was in the mutual interest of both sides, without which he sees no growth potential for the European economy.
„Without physical routes, everything is just perception and illusion”
– he said.
The minister further said that the future of bilateral relations depends on Europe’s readiness to return to rationality and common sense. He said that Europe has a kind of urge to lecture, judge and tell others how to live their lives, but that this makes no sense because countries around the world have different cultures and therefore different political systems.
„We should not impose our own political system on others. We can benefit from mutually respectful relations, well demonstrated by the example of Hungary, which has become a meeting point for Eastern and Western investments”
– he said.
In response to a moderator’s question, Péter Szijjártó stressed that Hungary has neither a coastline nor significant oil or gas resources, so it is highly dependent on imports.
He stressed that the government has never considered energy as a political or ideological issue, but always as a physical issue, which requires resources and transport routes for imports.
He stated that with the current energy infrastructure in Central Europe, despite all political intentions, it would not be possible to supply our country without Russian sources. He added that Hungary’s diversification means the inclusion of as many energy sources and transport routes as possible, not merely the replacement of one dependency with another.
He described Central Asia as a possible source of diversification, but added that „as long as oil or gas cannot be transported in backpacks,” this would require the development of physical infrastructure, which the EU should also be involved in building, as this is not a national but a European issue.
„For us, buying gas from Russia is not a matter of political preference, it is a matter of physical reality”
– he concluded.
