Hungary has blocked a European Union statement criticizing China’s new security legislation in Hong Kong, two diplomats said, in a move likely to undermine Beijing’s fight for freedom in the former British colony.
The EU, which aims to support Britain and the United States in upholding human rights in Hong Kong, would make its statement at a meeting of EU foreign ministers on Monday, but could not reach the necessary agreement of all the 27 EU countries.
“Hungary’s argument was that the EU already has too many problems with China,” a senior EU diplomat told Reuters. A second senior diplomat confirmed Hungary’s congestion and stance. An EU official said the statement was withdrawn from the EU approval process.
China and the EU imposed tit-for-tat sanctions on March 22 over Western accusations of human rights violations in Xinjiang.
Hungarian diplomats in Brussels were not immediately available for comment. Budapest reluctantly supported EU sanctions last month, calling them ‘pointless’ and offering a visit to China’s defense minister days after the EU sanctions decision.
Hungary is a major recipient of Chinese investments. In the past, both Hungary and Greece, where China’s COSCO Shipping has a majority stake in Greece’s largest port, have blocked EU rulings on China.
Beijing’s top representative in Hong Kong this week warned foreign powers that they would learn a lesson if they tried to interfere in China’s global financial center management, as tensions between China and Western governments increased over the city. read more
The West says the new Hong Kong security law breaks a promise to maintain a high degree of autonomy for the city since its return to the Chinese government in 1997. Supporters of China say the law has restored order after massive protests against the government and against China in 2019.
One of the diplomats said the impasse was the latest blow to the EU as a defender of human rights, raising questions about the EU’s economically powerful “soft power” which relies on inspiring countries to follow its example through the prohibiting the death penalty and maintaining press freedoms.
It also highlights the EU’s challenge in balancing business ties with China, its second largest trading partner, and its ability to speak out against the Chinese government’s repression in Hong Kong, over human rights lawyers since 2015 and with Muslim Uighurs in the northwest of China.
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