'Fudan fallout': Hungary's Opposition unite against PM approving EU's first Chinese campus

Budapest has signed a 'welcoming' contract to open the EU's first-ever Chinese university campus in the Hungarian capital by 2024, but Prime Minister Viktor Orban's closening ties with Beijing, that sent thousands of protesters on the streets in defiance to the move last month, has now gyrated into political upheaval.

On Monday, Hungary's opposition leaders unified against Orban's populist government for not only projecting a "friendly attitude" towards China by striking what they labelled a "controversial" deal to establish the Shanghai-based Fudan University campus in the European Union, but also for falling into the debt-trap diplomacy. 

In May, the Hungarian PM Orban approved the expensive project as soaring debt to China, insisting that the Chinese Fudan ranked among the top 100 universities in the world, and would raise standards for the Hungarian education system owing to the vast courses offered for the Hungarian, Chinese and other students, listing approximately 6,000. Orban's announcement of the satellite campus on Hungary's donated riverfront land unleashed nationwide demonstrations and backlash, with the opposition leaders condemning the strategic agreement, and citizens threatening to derail their Prime Minister's pro-Beijing agenda.

Hungary's populist government lawmakers overwhelmingly voted in favour of allocating at least four state-owned plots dedicated to Hungarian student housing for the construction of Fudan University. This laid the groundwork for staunch opposition against the deal with Budapest’s mayor lambasting the PM for cosying up to Beijing and citizens holding banners, declaring the government's act as "treason." 

The opposition on Monday united in an attempt to topple Orbán's right-wing Fidesz party and to force the Hungarian PM  into a U-turn over his planned Fudan University campus. They called out at Orban's hypocrisy for kicking the Central European University (the highest-ranked campus in Hungary) out of Budapest because it was financed by his longtime critic Hungarian-born American financier George Soros, who often accused Hungarian PM of championing “illiberal democracy.” Now that he was pressing ahead with a Chinese university, which critics said will undermine Hungary's own education standards, the opposition party rallied cries against the sitting government's "national rhetoric" ahead of the elections next year. 

[IMAGE: AP]

"They want to bring in a university which is indeed a serious university on the international level, but its charter requires that it represent the world view of the Chinese Communist Party," said Budapest mayor Gergely Karacsony, according to AP. Furthermore, Karacsony stated that he saw "serious national security risks in this investment."

During the protests held last month, city mayor Gergely Karácsony condemned PM's deal telling Hungarian reporters that the country will not be a colony of China, adding that the issue of the Fudan University was about whether Budapest will be a free state and that the Hungarian money is invested on Hungarian Universities. With hundreds of thousands of protesters vouching for the block of the campus construction, the opposition leaders pivoted their position joining the cause, demanding a referendum.

Gergely Gulyás, the minister in charge of the Prime Minister’s Office, defended the project as in the benefit of Budapest in interview with Hungarian outlet Mandiner. We want to do good to the people despite their opposition, he stated. 

The opposition accused Orban of imposing an undue financial burden on Hungarian taxpayers in return for the Chinese appeasement. The 64-acre campus is estimated at $1.8 billion, which exceeds Hungary's spending on its entire higher education system in the year 2019. Government plans an estimated 20 percent funding of the project from its central budget. Additionally, the Hungarian PM plans to borrow a $1.5 billion loan from a Chinese bank. The ruling party approved the project under its economic strategy known as the 'Eastern Opening' that seeks to strengthen diplomatic and trade cooperation with communist regimes such as China, Russia, Turkey and other allies in Central Asia.

'Free Hong Kong Road'

In a show of defiance against the Chinese government’s human rights abuses, Budapest city officials announced last month that they would be renaming Hungarian streets around the Chinese university's site to Uyghur Martyrs’ Road, Free Hong Kong Road, Dalai Lama Road, and Bishop Xie Shiguang Road. MTI news agency reported that the liberal opposition mayor Gergely Karacsony was waiting for approval, while Krisztina Baranyi, the mayor of the city’s 9th district, would get down to renaming the roads to oppose the hosting an elite Chinese university campus in the town. Karacsony slammed the "Chinese influence-buying” denouncing the right-wing populist PM.

In response to Budapest’s move, Wang Wenbin, China’s foreign ministry issued a response statement saying that a "few Hungarian politicians" were trying to hype up China-related issues in order to grab attention and obstruct China-Hungary cooperation.