Why are plans for a Chinese university in Hungary raised concerns? Educational News

The Hungarian political opposition has pledged to block the construction of the first Chinese university in the EU, as arguments over the financial and security risks of the project continue.

Budapest Mayor Gergely Karacsony, who is expected to run as an opposition candidate for prime minister in next year’s election, has promised to use “all possible legal and political means” to halt the right-wing government’s plan to build a campus at Fudan University. in the capital.

Shanghai, one of the top 200 universities in the world, aims to launch the campus by 2024.

According to the plan, a maximum of 8,000 students will live and study in the extensive facilities on the banks of the Danube.

The government, which has pushed for closer ties with Beijing in recent years, has stressed that the project will put the country on the world’s education and investment map.

“The campus will improve the level of education and provide students with knowledge of global competitiveness, which will contribute to the sustainable growth of the Hungarian economy,” Zoltan Kovacs, Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy, told Al Jazeera.

Match Tamas Matura, assistant professor and Chinese expert at Corvinus University in Budapest.

“The arrival of a world-class university is good news. China is an advanced country with advanced technology, so the project will give a boost to Hungary in those terms, ”he said.

However, Matura is not so sure about the financial arrangements.

It was announced last month that Hungary would pay a bill of 1.5 billion euros ($ 1.8 million) to build the campus through a major loan from Beijing.

The revelations have raised more concerns about the project’s deepening confidence in Hungary in China.

“The Fudan project is part of a broader government strategy to strengthen Hungary’s alliance with China,” Gabor Gyori told the Budapest-based Policy Solutions think tank.

Amid the “iliberal” push that has led to the conflict with the EU and the US in recent years, Prime Minister Viktor Orban has sought to strengthen ties with eastern Hungary.

Meanwhile, China has sought to use its enormous fiscal power in an effort to boost its interests within the EU and NATO in an attempt to gain influence in Central and Eastern Europe.

Hungary has been one of the only states to want to take the money.

It also has a 2 billion-euro loan agreement to build a high-speed rail link to Serbia, another European state responsible for the juan.

Critics have stated that Hungary will not take out a loan from the EU recovery fund, which shows that Orban prefers to have a few funding chains attached.

However, others suggest that some criticisms reflect a double level.

“It is difficult to justify judgments on Hungary’s ties with China, that Germany, France and the UK have much stronger economic ties with Beijing,” said Gergely Salat, a government-funded Institute of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Data from the Central and Eastern European Center for Asian Studies in Matura also show that investment in Hungary from China is declining in investment from Germany and the US.

However, unlike in these countries, Hungary’s links to the east are seen as potential deviations from the country’s western orientation.

“The government has made it clear that it has a greater commitment to loyalty to China and Russia than the country’s EU and NATO treaties,” Gyori said.

Hungary and Huawei

China has good reasons to encourage such a division. Hungary has regularly sided with Chinese interests, as tensions between Beijing and these Western institutions have escalated.

Hungary has ignored the US to warn that Huawei is a security risk, giving the company a major role in building its 5G networks.

Beijing is the only EU state to have used the Sinopharm vaccine, but there have been suspicions among NATO partners about Hungary’s activities in Beijing’s South China Sea.

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas strongly rebuked Orban on May 10, following Budapest’s tightening of control of China in Hong Kong after the EU blocked measures.

“This is not the first time Hungary has broken unity on the issue of China,” Maas told reporters. “I think everyone can work on their own where the reasons are.”

Chinese President Xi Jingpin, meanwhile, praised Orban.

“China is very grateful for Hungary’s strong commitment to friendly politics … [and takes] as a guide to important projects, ”he said.

Budapest hopes that more “important projects” will come after the completion of Fuda.

“The opening of the campus is expected to encourage more Chinese investment, especially the creation of research and development centers,” Kovacs said, adding that Hungary is expected to “become a regional knowledge center”.

Others say Orban has a chance to prove another detrimental success in the academic sector he has long wanted to be in control of. Many believe they want to promote their nationalist ideology.

Michael Ignatieff is the president of the Central European University, a US institution forced out of Budapest in 2018.

He called Fudan’s arrival “another blow to academic freedom,” suggesting that the university would not offer courses that are critical of Chinese or Hungarian governments.

However, Beijing is little concerned with its public opinion.

On May 10, Fudan announced that he had signed a cooperation agreement with the Propaganda Department of the Chinese Communist Party.

But Matura points out that Fudan remains one of the most liberal universities in China. Analysts suggest that Hungary may also be a victim of hypocrisy.

Thousands of Chinese students are already attending US and European universities, and vice versa, “so it seems that it is a double standard to oppose a Chinese university operating in Hungary.”