Hungary could be China s bridge to Central Europe, Jamestown analysis says

Budapest, July 28 (MTI) - Economic cooperation between China and Hungary has been intensifying over the past several years, China s engagement with Hungary may be seen as an attempt of buying political support from Central European countries increasingly dependent on foreign investment, an analysis by the Washington based Jamestown Foundation said.

In its paper entitled "Is Hungary Becoming China s Hub in Central Europe?" and published on July 15 the authors of the think-tank said that meetings during Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao s recent visit in Budapest were chalked up as "bilateral" instead of "multilateral." This indicated that the purpose of the visit was business between China and Hungary, rather than between China and the EU.

During the June 24-26 visit, extensive agreements worth around 3.6 billion dollars were signed and Premier Wen pledged that China would purchase an unspecified amount of Hungarian debt, the authors Russell Hsiao and Matthew Czekaj noted.

"Premier Wen s most recent commitments in Hungary are consistent with a pattern of behaviour that suggests that China is targeting these emerging markets strategically," they said.

The authors point out that unlike Hungary, many Central European countries have mixed feelings about closer economic ties with China. On the one hand they want to attract Chinese investments, but, on the other hand, they have fears of the reliability of Chinese firms.

Additionally, members of the Visegrad Four group, which includes the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia, are generally considered very sensitive to human rights issues, including those in China, they said.

"China may thus be trying to use Hungary as an example to its neighbors that if they toe China s line, they will also reap the rewards of China s generosity. Thus, the longer Europe s economy stumbles in its recovery, the more enticing Chinese overtures will be to the region," the authors said.