Breaking with EU, Hungary’s leader backs China’s peace proposal for Ukraine war
- ‘We consider China’s peace plan important, and we support it,’ Prime Minister Viktor Orban says
- Most European Union leaders have criticised the 12-point proposal, contending that it takes Russia’s side
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has broken with the European Union to throw his support behind China’s position paper for peace in the Ukraine war.
In a speech to the Hungarian national parliament on Monday, Orban warned that “the whole of Europe is slipping into the war, step by step”.
“We need a ceasefire and the start of peace talks; Hungary calls for peace in all international forums; I see that most states support peace and Hungary cannot isolate itself from most of the world.
“Therefore, we consider China’s peace plan important, and we support it,” he said, according to the Hungarian news website Telex.
China’s 12-point position paper, released on Friday to mark the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion, calls for an immediate ceasefire, opposes the use of sanctions and nuclear weapons, and calls on all parties to stop “fanning the flames” of the war.