Hungary and Serbia's autocratic leaders to roll out red carpet for China's Xi during Europe tour

Chinese and Serbian flags fly on lampposts, days before the visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping in Belgrade, Serbia, Wednesday, May 1, 2024. Xi will visit France, Serbia and Hungary this week as Beijing appears to seek a larger role in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine that has upended global political and economic security. this week in two small countries at the continent’s eastern half, a region that Beijing has used as a foothold for its expanding economic ambitions in Europe.

One of the major benefits to China of establishing bases within the EU: avoiding costly tariffs. The European Commission, the bloc's executive arm, is mulling raising duties on the import of from its current 10% to protect the European auto manufacturing market — a mainstay for Germany, the 27-member EU's largest economy.

Márk Schiller, the strategy and marketing director for the family-owned Schiller Auto Group, said he believes that European carmakers are “already behind” China in transitioning to EV production. His company recently stopped selling cars made by German carmaker Opel, and switched to BYD.Unconfirmed reports suggest that during Xi’s visit to Hungary from Wednesday to Friday, he and Orbán will announce another EV manufacturing investment involving China’s Great Wall Motor.

According to the AidData research lab at William & Mary, a public university in Virginia, Chinese lenders have issued loans worth more than $22 billion to nine countries in Central and Eastern Europe between 2000 and 2021. But economic analyst Mijat Lakićević said he didn't expect any major new investment deals, because “everything that Serbia does with China has already been agreed.”

Such investments are coming at a time when Hungary's sluggish economy has been further hindered by record-setting inflation and the freezing of billions in EU funding that has been withheld over Orbán's track record on democracy standards and the rule of law.

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