Just three days after a visit to Moscow that infuriated his European allies, Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary sprung another surprise on Monday by turning up in Beijing for previously unannounced talks with China’s leader, Xi Jinping, that featured promises to strengthen their countries’ robust relationship.
The visit to China, planned in secret like his trip on Friday to Moscow to meet President Vladimir V. Putin, is likely to intensify criticism in the European Union that the Hungarian leader is courting authoritarian leaders in defiance of the bloc’s stated foreign policy goals.
In May, Mr. Orban had given Mr. Xi a red-carpet welcome in Budapest, the Hungarian capital, bolstering China’s efforts to restore its influence in Europe at a time when the European Union as a whole is trying to contain the reach of a country it views as a “systemic rival.”
China’s official summary of their meeting on Monday in Beijing said they discussed their ideas to end the war in Ukraine, where both governments favor terms that Ukraine rejects as tilted toward Russia.
This meeting gave Mr. Xi and Mr. Orban, an outlier in the European Union on support for Ukraine and other issues, a chance to press the bloc to distance itself from Washington, with which Hungary also has strained relations. Hungary began its six-month rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union this month, giving Mr. Orban a higher profile, though not much more influence, in European affairs. Still, Mr. Xi seemed to ask Mr. Orban to do what he could.
Mr. Orban has for years worked to curb criticism of China by the European Union, upsetting countries that support Washington’s hawkish position on the need to counter what they see as unfair Chinese trade practices.
Western European leaders have long distanced themselves from Mr. Orban, who delights in defying his nominal allies in pursuit of what he sees as Hungary’s national interest. When he visited Moscow last week, they emphasized that he did not speak for the European Union. They are likely to take a similarly skeptical view of Mr. Orban’s talks with Mr. Xi in Beijing.
Mr. Orban’s visit to China comes before a three-day NATO summit in Washington starts on Tuesday. At those talks, President Biden and other Western leaders are likely to offer Kyiv more support in its war against Russia, though not the NATO membership that Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, has urged.
For Mr. Xi, Mr. Orban appears to be another in a circle of diplomatic partners that he can use to show that Beijing is building its own network of support. Last week, Mr. Xi held talks with Mr. Putin in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan.
“China is an important stabilizing force for promoting world peace,” Mr. Orban told Mr. Xi, according to the Chinese account of their latest meeting. “Hungary highly appreciates and attaches importance to China’s role and influence.”
Mr. Orban had earlier described his trip to Beijing as continuing a mission for “peace” for Ukraine, a term that Hungary has used to describe a settlement built on Ukrainian capitulation to Russian demands. His visit to Russia last week was the first time a European Union leader had gone there for official talks with Mr. Putin since the first months of Russia’s invasion.
Before visiting Moscow, Mr. Orban met in Kyiv with Mr. Zelensky, which observers saw as a move by the Hungarian leader to try to end his isolation in Europe over Ukraine. On the plane back from Moscow, he told a Swiss journalist that his meeting with Mr. Putin had been planned in great secrecy after his visit to Ukraine so as to avoid the “big guys,” an apparent reference to the United States and its allies, from finding out about it.
The Chinese account of his talks in Beijing with Mr. Xi said “the two sides focused on a thorough discussion about the crisis in Ukraine.” Mr. Orban has been vague about how he envisages a peace settlement in Ukraine beyond calling for a “time bound cease-fire” to allow Moscow and Kyiv to start direct negotiations.
“Xi praised Orban’s efforts to promote a political solution to the Ukraine crisis and elaborated on China’s views and proposals,” the Chinese statement said.
Similarly, Mr. Xi has promoted what China calls a 12-point peace plan that calls for an end to fighting only in broad terms. But he has maintained strong ties with Mr. Putin, and China’s defense ministry on Sunday said that Chinese troops would take part in military exercises in Belarus, a neighbor and close partner of Russia, this month. The ministry said the joint drills would focus on “counterterrorist” operations and on the rescuing of hostages.
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