Agreement with Hungary

Will China’s police officers soon be on patrol in the EU?

Hungarian police officers patrol the border with Serbia (archive photo). They could soon be accompanied by colleagues from China.

(Bild: APA/AFP/Attila KISBENEDEK)

Hungary has reached an explosive agreement with the People's Republic of China: it allows Hungarian and Chinese police officers to patrol Hungary together. Liberal MEPs are warning of a massive threat to the European Union.

According to MEPs, China is pursuing its own goals with this pact: it wants to monitor Chinese citizens abroad. To this end, the regime in Beijing has already set up around 100 illegal Chinese police stations worldwide, reports the Hungarian online portal "Nepszava.hu", citing Spanish sources. 30 of these are said to be located in 14 EU countries. China is also said to have set up such a "tracing center" in Vienna.

Safety of tourists as an official reason
The agreement between the Hungarian Interior Minister Sándor Pintér and the Chinese Minister of Public Security Wang Xiaohong was concluded in February. It serves to improve the safety of tourists, according to the official explanation. China has already concluded an agreement similar to that with Hungary with Serbia, a candidate country for EU accession.

At the instigation of the liberal Renew Europe group, the EU Parliament will therefore hold a debate on the "activities of Chinese police officers in Europe" at its plenary session on April 10, Hungarian media reported.

In a letter, liberal MEPs pointed out that China uses illegal police stations and the presence of Chinese police officers to monitor Chinese living in Hungary, threaten dissidents, silence them and force dissidents to return. This secret and illegal police activity would violate democracy, the rule of law and fundamental rights and pose a massive threat to the European Union and its member states, "Nepszava.hu" quoted from the letter.

Hungary points to cooperation with Austria
The Hungarian Ministry of the Interior had denied any criticism and pointed out that such an agreement with China was nothing new. After all, Austrian police officers had already been deployed in Hungary and Hungarian police officers in Croatia.

China has a foot in the door
The Hungarian government under Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has long been flirting not only with Russia, but also with the Chinese regime - much to the annoyance of other EU states. Hungary has repeatedly gone against the EU position when it comes to condemning human rights violations in China or allowing Chinese investments, although the EU has called for such relations with Beijing to be coordinated with the other member states.

The security agreement with Hungary is thus a diplomatic victory for China, while the rift between Orban and his EU counterparts is deepening.