It would be brutal economic suicide for Europe to cut ties with China, especially after the continent’s competitiveness has plummeted significantly in recent years for various reasons, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó said in Tianjin, China, on Tuesday.

According to a ministry statement, the minister, who was taking part in a panel discussion at the World Economic Forum, the so-called summer Davos, said that “connectivity is good, repeated world blockages are bad” and pointed out that this was the starting point for the government’s policy on economic relations between Europe and China.

He underlined that, based on certain trends, many EU member states see China as a risk or a threat, while Hungary believes that cooperation with the East Asian country can bring a lot of benefits.

Cutting the economic ties between Europe and China, the so-called de-risking, would amount to “brutal suicide” for the European economy, especially after the continent’s competitiveness has plummeted in recent years, he warned.

It would therefore be in Europe’s interest to cooperate with China on the basis of mutual respect and mutual benefit,” he said.

Péter Szijjártó said that Hungary sees the East-West division of labour as a great opportunity and the only way to improve European competitiveness.

For decades, he said, predictable economic growth was based on a combination of advanced Western technologies and the easy availability of relatively cheap energy from the East, but this has now been eroded, with the European-Russian ties broken by the war in Ukraine.

“If we also cut the Europe-China ties, it would knock out the European economy,” he said, pointing out that annual trade between the two sides is worth €865 billion.

He pointed out that China’s gross domestic product (GDP) now exceeds that of the EU. He said that in 2010, China’s share of world GDP was only 9 per cent, compared to 22 per cent for the EU, but that the situation has now reversed for various reasons, and now stands at 18 and 17 per cent respectively.

“If we look at China as a rival, not as a partner for cooperation, Europe loses out “, he said.

It is also worth noting that

to renew the automotive industry, the backbone of the European economy, Western manufacturers need electric batteries, and in this area they have become totally dependent on Eastern, and in particular Chinese, companies.

As for the “Central Corridor” linking China to Europe, he said that the development of new routes was in our mutual interest, without which he saw no growth potential for the European economy. “Without physical routes, everything is just perception and illusion,” he said.

The Minister said that the future of bilateral relations depends on Europe’s readiness to return to rationality and common sense. He said that Europe has a kind of urge to lecture, judge and tell others how to live their lives, but that this makes no sense because countries around the world have different cultures and therefore different political systems.

“We should not impose our own political system on others, but relations can be beneficial on the basis of mutual respect, as the example of Hungary, which has become a meeting point for Eastern and Western investment, shows,” he said.

In response to a moderator’s question, Péter Szijjártó stressed that Hungary has neither a coastline nor significant oil or gas resources, so it is highly dependent on imports.

He stressed that the government has never considered energy as a political or ideological issue, but always as a physical issue, which requires resources and transport routes for its import.

He stated that with the current energy infrastructure in Central Europe, despite all political intentions, it would not be possible to supply our country without Russian sources. He added that by diversification Hungary meant the inclusion of as many energy sources and transport routes as possible, but merely the replacement of one dependency with another.

He described Central Asia as a potential source of diversification, but added that “until oil or gas can be transported in backpacks”, this would require the development of physical infrastructure, which the EU should also be involved in, as this is not a national but a European issue.

“For us, buying gas from Russia is not a matter of political taste, it is a matter of physical reality,” he concluded.

Source : www.hirado.hu