Hungary leader Viktor Orban’s China ties to become election issue, as outcry over Fudan University campus grows
- Plans to build a satellite campus for the Shanghai-based university in Budapest have prompted a backlash
- This week four streets in the city were renamed after figures such as the Dalai Lama to reflect human rights issues
Orban’s ties to Beijing have made global headlines for years. But a series of high profile political stunts by opponents and local media exposés into the financial reality of China’s interests in Budapest have begun to resonate among the electorate, according to political analysts and opinion polls.
“This is the first time that this relationship has become very polarising and politicised,” said Peter Kreko, director at Budapest’s Political Capital Institute. “This is really quite remarkable.”
The issue at the centre of the furore is Hungary’s plans to build a satellite campus for Shanghai’s Fudan University in the capital Budapest, at a cost of more than US$1.5 billion, using Chinese contractors and mainly funded by Chinese commercial loans.
The plan has lit a fire among Orban’s opponents, who plan to field a single candidate to face the strongman in elections to be held by next year.