Recently Yahoo News on-line reported the following:
China’s Billions Help Xi Make Useful Friends in Eastern
Europe (2/2)
Andrea Dudik, Misha Savic and Marton Kasnyik
Sun, May 5, 2024 at 9:00 p.m. PDT·8 min read
(continue)
Orban has consistently vetoed the EU’s statements critical
of Beijing. For him, the links with China are part of his “Eastern opening”
strategy of boosting ties, often by leveraging Hungary’s membership in the EU,
which grants the nation a veto over some of the most important decisions.
Hungary also gives Chinese investors access to the world’s largest trading
bloc.
“Many talk about decoupling and de-risking these days, which means isolating Europe’s economy from China’s,” Orban told the Belt and Road Forum in Beijing in October, where he was the only EU leader in attendance. “Those who support connectivity, like Hungary, reject that policy.”
The country wants to add projects to the Belt and Road cooperation in the areas of logistics, infrastructure development and the expansion of electric vehicle charging stations, Economy Minister Marton Nagy said last week.
The danger is that China will have too much leverage over the Hungarian government, which is already “absolutely subservient,” according to Hegedus at the German Marshall Fund.
Links with China also stretch beyond money. Hungary has been home to the region’s biggest Chinese minority of about 20,000. The Jegenye street area in Budapest’s 10th district is full of discrete Chinese-owned shops, stores and restaurants in former industrial buildings, an improvement from the old Chinese market that closed just over a decade ago.
The first and biggest wave of Chinese arrived following the Tiananmen Square crackdown just as Hungary was transitioning from communism to democracy. Thousands more arrived via a Golden Visa program Hungary opened in 2013 and which the government is looking to restart this year.
Other moves have been more controversial. Three years ago, thousands of Hungarians rallied against a plan to finance the private campus of Fudan University in Budapest with taxpayer funds. Hungary has also allowed Chinese police officers to patrol its streets, ostensibly to help Hungarian counterparts liaise with the community.
In Serbia, the relationship also runs deeper than money. China won public praise for support during the coronavirus pandemic after it shipped Sinopharm vaccines, as it did to Hungary. China has invested $5.5 billion, mainly into copper mining and a steel processing plant, and the impact is very visible.
A case in point is Bor, Serbia’s main mining hub, which was a desolate place in a pariah state under international sanctions following the Balkan wars of the 1990s. Even after then-Yugoslavia’s isolation ended in 2000, the government-owned RTB Bor mining and smelting complex was struggling with debt and unable to fix its decrepit, polluting facilities that caused acid rain.
The plant’s fate changed in 2018, when China’s Zijin Mining bought a majority of RTB Bor with a pledge to inject at least $1.5 billion. Six years later, the city’s grimy facades are scrubbed and repainted. The mining complex rebounded to employ more than 6,000, offering average net pay of $1,300 a month, more than 50% above the national average.
Local real estate prices have almost tripled since the takeover, while dust and sulfur-oxide pollution are under legal limits for the first time in decades. Banners around the facility tell workers their safety paramount. Zijin plans to make the Serbian facility into the biggest copper producer in Europe by 2030, Chen Jinghe, the company’s chairman, said in late April.
“Every part of our production has been upgraded, modernized,” said Nemanja Anicic, a 42-year-old manager of the open-pit Krivelj mine, the biggest in Serbia, as he watched screens in the control room that monitor every truck and bulldozer roaming the vast pit. “It’s a rebirth for the industry.”
Serbia’s turn toward China reflects the need for investment with EU membership looking further out. China is Serbia’s biggest trading partner after Germany, with exports and imports totaling $6.2 billion last year.
Bilateral trade deals will end once the country joins the EU, Vucic pledged last year, but in the meantime “we have to live before EU accession.”
The rail link north from Belgrade shows how the country is doing it: On the way to Novi Sad, the high-speed train goes over a bridge rebuilt with EU funds to replace the one destroyed by NATO in 1999.
“You can cooperate” with China, said Bojan Stanic, assistant director for strategic analysis and data at the Serbian Chamber of Commerce, “and still have your independence, your European values.”
--With assistance from Zoltan Simon, Ania Nussbaum and Tom Fevrier.
Translation
（繼續）
歐爾班一貫否決歐盟批評北京的聲明。 對他來說，與中國的聯繫, 是他去加強關係的「東方開放」策略的一部分，通常是利用匈牙利的歐盟成員國身份，這賦予了該國對一些最重要決定的否決權。 匈牙利也為中國投資者提供了進入全球最大貿易區的機會。
歐爾班十月份在北京舉行的「一帶一路」論壇上表示: 「現在很多人都在談論脫鉤和去風險，這意味著將歐洲經濟與中國經濟隔離」; 他是唯一出席該論壇的歐盟領導人。 「像匈牙利這樣支持互聯互通的國家是會拒絕這項政策」。
經濟部長 Marton Nagy 上週表示，該國希望在物流、基礎設施發展和擴建電動車充電站等領域增加「一帶一路」合作項目。
德國馬歇爾基金會的 Hegedus 表示，危險在於中國將對匈牙利政府擁有過多的影響力，而匈牙利政府已經「絕對順從」。
匈牙利與中國的聯繫也不僅限於金錢。 匈牙利是該地區最大的華人少數民族的家園，人口約 20,000 人。 布達佩斯第 10 區的 Jegenye 街區, 前身是工業大厦遍布着離散的中國人開的商店、雜貨和餐館，這是對十多年前已關閉的舊中國市場的改進。
天安門廣場鎮壓之後，第一批也是規模最大的中國人抵達匈牙利，當時匈牙利正從共產主義過渡到民主。 還有數千人透過匈牙利於 2013 年啟動的黃金簽證計劃抵達，該國政府希望在今年重新啟動該計劃。
其他措施則更具爭議性。 三年前，數千名匈牙利人舉行集會，反對用納稅人的資金資助布達佩斯復旦大學私立校園的計劃 。 匈牙利也允許中國警察在街上巡邏，表面上是為了幫助匈牙利同行與社區聯絡。
在塞爾維亞，關係也比金錢更深入。 正如曾對匈牙利所做出的, 中國運送出國藥疫苗 。 之後中國在冠狀病毒大流行期間作出的支持, 贏得了公眾讚譽。 中國已投資55億美元，主要用於銅礦開採和鋼鐵加工廠，效果非常明顯。
塞爾維亞主要採礦中心 Bor 就是一個典型的例子，在 20 世紀 90 年代巴爾幹戰爭之後，這裡是一個受到國際制裁及被鄙視排斥國家中的一個荒涼之地。 即使在 2000 年南斯拉夫的孤立狀態結束後，政府擁有的 RTB Bor 採礦和冶煉廠仍在債務中掙扎，無法修復由酸雨導致的破舊污染設施。
該工廠的命運在 2018 年發生了變化，當時中國紫金礦業收購了 RTB Bor 的大部分股權，並承諾注資至少 15 億美元。 六年後，這座城市骯髒的外牆被擦洗並重新粉刷。 該礦區員工數量回升至 6,000 多人，每月平均淨工資為 1,300 美元，比全國平均高出 50% 以上。
自接管以來，當地房地產價格幾乎上漲了兩倍，而灰塵和硫氧化物污染幾十年來首次受到法律限制。 工廠周圍的橫幅告訴工人說他們的安全是至關重要。 紫金礦業董事長 Chen Jinghe 在4月底表示，該公司計劃在2030年將塞爾維亞工廠打造成歐洲最大的銅生產商。
塞爾維亞最大的 Krivelj 露天礦的 42 歲經理 Nemanja Anicic，在看著控制室裡的屏幕, 監控着每輛卡車和推土機在廣闊的坑中移動時說道: 「我們生產的每個部分都已升級、現代化」。 「這是這個行業的重生」。
塞爾維亞轉向中國反映了其投資需求,而歐盟成員國則放眼於別處。 中國是塞爾維亞僅次於德國的最大貿易夥伴，去年進出口總額達62億美元。
武契奇去年承諾，一旦該國加入歐盟，雙邊貿易協定就會終止，但同時「我們必須在加入歐盟之前生存」。
從貝爾格萊德向北延伸的鐵路線展示了該國的做法：在前往 Novi Sad 的 途中，高速列車經過一座由歐盟資金重建的橋樑，以取代 1999 年被北約摧毀的橋樑。
塞爾維亞商會戰略分析和數據的助理處長 Bojan Stanic 表示，與中國 “你可以合作” ， “同時仍然保持獨立性和持有歐洲價值觀。”
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