China offered to support long-time strategic partner Hungary on public security issues, going beyond trade and investment relations, during a rare meeting with Prime Minister Viktor Orban, just as NATO struggles to expand its network in Europe.
China hopes to deepen law enforcement and security ties with Hungary as the two mark their 75th year of diplomatic relations, Public Security Minister Wang Xiaohong told Orban last week, the official Xinhua news agency said.
During a visit to Budapest, Wang said he hoped such efforts would be "a new highlight of bilateral relations" in areas such as combating terrorism and transnational crimes.
They would also encompass security and law enforcement capacity building under President Xi Jinping's Belt and Road Initiative, which aims to link China with the world through trade and infrastructure links.
Wang also met Interior Minister Sandor Pinter and signed documents on law enforcement and security co-operation, Xinhua said on Sunday, but did not give details.
China's security assurance comes as Hungary, a Russian ally, has worked to dilute its dependence on Western countries in the past decade under Orban, recently resisting pressure to approve the expansion of NATO in Europe.
Hungary is the only NATO state that has not ratified Sweden's application to join the security bloc.
China has been critical of NATO, especially after the bloc said last year that Beijing had challenged its interests, security and values with its "ambitions and coercive policies".
Chinese state media have called NATO a "grave" challenge to global peace and stability.
The security pact with Hungary represents a diplomatic win for China in the European Union, as the bloc weighs its ties with the world's second-largest economy over differences on human rights, trade imbalances and Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
The central European country's growing affinity to Beijing has already put a wedge in the EU's collective front.
On several occasions, Hungary has stood aside or opposed EU positions critical of China on issues such as human rights, and welcomed Chinese investments despite the EU's call for members to align relations with China in line with those of the bloc.
India’s economy will become carbon neutral by the year 2070, the country’s prime minster has announced at the COP26 climate crisis summit in Glasgow. The target date is two decades beyond what scientists say is needed to avert catastrophic climate impacts. India is the last of the world’s major carbon polluters to announce a net-zero target, with China saying it would reach that goal in 2060, and the United States and the European Union aiming for 2050.
China's carbon emissions are vast and growing, dwarfing those of other countries. Experts agree that without big reductions in China's emissions, the world cannot win the fight against climate change. In 2020, China's President Xi Jinping said his country would aim for its emissions to reach their highest point before 2030 and for carbon neutrality before 2060. His statement has now been confirmed as China's official position ahead of the COP26 global climate summit in Glasgow. But China has not said exactly how these goals will be achieved.
China's carbon emissions are vast and growing, dwarfing those of other countries. Experts agree that without big reductions in China's emissions, the world cannot win the fight against climate change. In 2020, China's President Xi Jinping said his country would aim for its emissions to reach their highest point before 2030 and for carbon neutrality before 2060. His statement has now been confirmed as China's official position ahead of the COP26 global climate summit in Glasgow. But China has not said exactly how these goals will be achieved.
A crucial U.N. conference heard calls on its first day for the world's major economies to keep their promises of financial help to address the climate crisis, while big polluters India and Brazil made new commitments to cut emissions. World leaders, environmental experts and activists all pleaded for decisive action to halt the global warming which threatens the future of the planet at the start of the two-week COP26 summit in the Scottish city of Glasgow on Monday. The task facing negotiators was made even more daunting by the failure of the Group of 20 major industrial nations to agree ambitious new commitments at the weekend.