Hungary approves land donation for controversial Chinese university

Lawmakers vote overwhelmingly to give planned Fudan campus four state-owned plots earmarked for local student housing

The project has attracted fierce opposition from Budapest’s mayor who wants a referendum on the issue before elections in April

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Thousands of protesters marched in Budapest on June 5 to oppose the planned satellite campus for China’s Fudan University. Photo: AP

Published: 2:10pm, 16 Jun 2021Updated: 2:16pm, 16 Jun 2021

Hungarian lawmakers voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday to donate state-owned land on the banks of the Danube River to a planned Chinese university in Budapest.

The proposed satellite campus of Shanghai-based Fudan University has attracted opposition criticism and sparked a recent protest accusing the government of cosying up to Beijing.

Opponents of nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban fear the US$2 billion campus could undermine the quality of higher education and help Beijing increase its influence in Hungary and the European Union.

Orban’s government argues the school could help attract new research and development centres, as well as investments to Hungary, a central European country of 10 million people, which relies heavily on foreign investment to drive economic growth.

The parliament approved the donation of four plots of land to a foundation in charge of the planned campus, displacing a planned local student housing area. The law says the government must present the project’s final plans, including costs, to parliament by the end of 2022, after the April election. The issue would then be put to a referendum, Orban said last week.

However, Budapest mayor Gergely Karacsony, who is vying to become Orban’s opposition challenger next year, is seeking a referendum on the campus before the election.