BUDAPEST, Hungary: Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Budapest on Wednesday after a visit to Serbia on the last leg of his European tour aimed at strengthening the already flourishing relationship between Beijing and its closest EU ally.
Xi Jinping’s three-day visit to Hungary marks 75 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries, with the Chinese leader expected to attend a state dinner with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán later on Wednesday.
The Chinese president began his European trip in France, a visit that was cordial but also highlighted tensions between Beijing and the European Union over the Ukraine war and global trade.
Earlier on Wednesday, Xi Jinping ended his visit to Serbia, which, like Hungary, has close ties to Russia and China.
China has poured billions into Serbia and neighboring Balkan countries, particularly in mining and manufacturing, and last year Beijing and Belgrade signed a free trade agreement.
Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic greeted Xi and his wife Peng Liyuan on a red carpet outside the main government offices in Belgrade on Wednesday.
The Chinese leader was met with a gun salute before shaking hands with officials including the prime minister and the governor of the National Bank of Serbia.
The two leaders waved from the balcony to several thousand people, some waving Chinese flags, as Vucic called Xi a “friend of Serbia”.
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The kind of respect and love that he finds here in our Serbia, he will not find anywhere else, added Vucic.
Xi told the crowd that they have a clear and simple position on China’s territorial integrity. “Yes, Taiwan is China.”
Beijing claims the self-ruled island as its own. It recently announced it didn’t rule out using force to bring it under its control.
The streets of the Serbian capital were decorated with Chinese flags and posters proclaiming a “warm welcome” to “Chinese friends”.
Xi’s visit coincided with the 25th anniversary of the 1999 US bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, which killed at least three people.
The embassy was hit during a months-long, US-led NATO campaign targeting Serbian security forces at war with ethnic Albanian rebels in Kosovo.
The United States later apologized, saying outdated maps led the pilot to hit the wrong target.
