In a background discussion on Thursday, US Ambassador to Hungary, David Pressman criticized the Hungarian government’s relations with China, 444 reports. The US ambassador was speaking on the occasion of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s three-day visit to Budapest. Pressman said, “No one is saying Hungary shouldn’t do business with China. We also have business dealings with China. But the way in which the Hungarian government has cultivated its relationship with China shows that Hungary cares little for its own security or that of its allies. This is demonstrated by the fact that Hungary is incorporating problematic Chinese technology into its critical infrastructure.”

At their joint press conference on Thursday, Hungarian Prime Minister Orbán and China’s President Xi Jinping did not reveal anything about the subject of the talks between the Hungarian government and China, but only praised the good relations between the two countries. Shortly afterwards, Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó announced that they had reached an agreement with China on 18 different subjects. Among them are the joint preparation of the V0 railway line and the high-speed railway connecting the capital with its airport, as well as the launch of cooperation in the nuclear sector.

Press reports have said that the railway line connecting Liszt Ferenc Airport and the city center would be built by Chinese workers, financed by a Chinese loan, and would be separate from the MÁV (Hungarian Railways) network, running largely on concrete tracks as an elevated rail line. According to the plans published in the press, the high-speed train would run alternately between Budapest Airport and Nyugati railway station and the mini-Dubai district planned for Rákosrendező.

Dávid Vitézy, LMP’s candidate for mayor of Budapest in the upcoming municipal elections, has recently strongly criticized the plans for the project. According to him, it would be a foolish waste of money and a wrong move to have the Chinese build an airport express train which is separate from the public transport system of Budapest.