‘Hungarians Are Not Anti-Chinese, But They Have Concerns’

Hungary has witnessed unprecedented demonstrations against government plans to set up a campus of China’s Fudan University in the capital Budapest. But the protests seem to reflect multiple concerns: about the lack of transparency surrounding the project including the cost, and disquiet about the government of Prime Minister Viktor Orban with elections due next year.

In this conversation on The Gist, Asst. Prof. Tamas Matura who teaches and researches on China at the Corvinius University in Budapest, says a referendum is likely to determine the future course of the Fudan project. He makes the point that there is no great anti-China sentiment in Hungary although there is no affection for the authoritarian political model Beijing represents. These sentiments flow from Hungary’s communist past as a satellite state of the former USSR.

More in this conversation with Asst. Prof. Tamas Matura on The Gist.