Hungary and China can count on each other to strengthen the voice of the peace camp – Szijjártó in Beijing

"Hungary and China can count on each other to strengthen the voice of the peace camp, and the two countries will work closely together to achieve a ceasefire in Ukraine as soon as possible and to establish peace talks," Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said in Beijing on Monday.

According to the ministry's statement, Szijjártó spoke about the strategic partnership between the two countries following his talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang, and stressed that its importance has been confirmed in recent years by the fight against the coronavirus epidemic, the economic crisis and the war in Ukraine.

Szijjártó said that Hungary is facing particularly serious challenges because of the armed conflict next door, and that Hungary is therefore in favour of peace and wants the fighting to end as soon as possible. "But unfortunately one can't help but see that in the world, and especially in the transatlantic world, the rhetoric of war is very loud," he said.

"In response to that, we need to keep amplifying the voice of the peace camp, so that it would be clear that the global majority is very much in favour of peace. And China certainly has a key role to play in amplifying the voice of the peace camp."

He added: "We appreciate the efforts China has recently made for peace, and we appreciate the peace plan that China has put on the table.

China has long actively expressed its pro-peace stance and urged for negotiations to start as soon as possible. Earlier, it also published a twelve-point peace plan, which Ukraine said was unrealistic, but Viktor Orbán has indicated his support for it. China announced a peace mission on 12 May, and its representative for Eurasian affairs will visit Ukraine, Poland, France, Germany and Russia this week.

Speaking about the Chinese peace proposal on Monday, Szijjártó said that the very existence of this initiative was to be welcomed, as when it comes to the situation in Ukraine, everyone usually talks about war.
The minister also said that he and his Chinese counterpart had agreed that they could count on each other to strengthen the voice of the peace camp.

“We are happy that China is taking peace efforts seriously, we are happy that China is making efforts in this direction", Szijjártó stressed.

"We will work closely together to create the conditions for an immediate ceasefire and then for peace talks in Ukraine as soon as possible," he said.

On Monday, among others, the Hungarian Foreign Minister met with the Chinese Minister of Commerce and the heads of several large enterprises, and will then travel to Ningbo to attend the China-Central Europe Trade Fair, the Hungarian State News Agency (MTI) reported.