Hungarian Prime Minister makes surprise visit to China on 'Peace Mission 3.0'

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has arrived in China as part of his “peace mission” tour, which includes meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kiev.

The Hungarian leader confirmed that he has now arrived in China through a photo of Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Hua Chunying welcoming him at the airport and a brief post on X (formerly Twitter) on the morning of July 8 with the content: “Peace Mission 3.0 Beijing”.

News of the Hungarian Prime Minister's possible visit to Beijing was first reported by the Hungarian news portal 444. The portal wrote on July 7 that Mr. Orban “is expected to arrive in the Asian country in the early morning of July 8.”

Last week, Prime Minister Orban traveled to Kiev, where he met with President Zelensky in an effort to persuade the Ukrainian leader to consider ceasefire talks with Moscow. The Hungarian prime minister then embarked on a surprise visit to Moscow, which his office said was part of Mr. Orban’s “peacekeeping mission.”

Orban and Putin spent hours discussing the “shortest way out” of the conflict in Ukraine. However, the Hungarian leader admitted that Moscow and Kiev were still “very far apart”, noting that Mr Zelensky “did not like” his proposals.

Mr Orban’s surprise trip to Russia sparked anger in Kiev and among EU leaders, but the Hungarian prime minister said one of the most important steps to ending the conflict was “establishing contact” and argued he did not need an EU mandate to promote peace.

Hungary, which currently holds the rotating EU presidency, is one of the few bloc members, along with neighbouring Slovakia, to maintain a neutral stance and refuse to send weapons to Ukraine.

The visit to Beijing comes as Hungary has just cancelled a meeting between its Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto and his German counterpart Annalena Baerbock.