Hungary: After Massive Protests Erupts Against Construction Of Chinese University Campus, Orban Govt May Delay The Project

As a fallout of massive protest that has erupted in the country against the project, Hungary is planning to temporarily put on hold the ongoing construction of controversial Chinese university campus in Budapest, South China Morning Post reported.

SCMP quoted a local Hungarian publication as saying that Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s government has decided to stall the project fearing adverse electoral consequences in the 2023 parliamentary polls.

Thousands of demonstrators took to the the streets of Budapest on Saturday (Jun 6) in protest against the Hungarian government’s plans to build a satellite campus of Shanghai’s Fudan University in the city.

An estimated crowd of 10,000 people participated in the protest march, despite government restrictions on demonstrations, indicating how controversial the project has become in the Hungarian capital.

The Hungarian government signed an agreement with Shanghai-based Fudan University in April to build a campus at a site in Budapest where a dormitory village for Hungarian students had previously been planned.

The 500,000 square meter (5 million square foot) proposed campus, which would be Fudan’s first physical presence in Europe, will cost more than US$1.5 billion to build. The construction phase of the project will mainly involve Chinese workers and will be funded using Chinese commercial loans. China is expected to give a 1.3 billion euro (US$1.58 billion) loan to cover most of the estimated 1.5 billion euro costs.

Opposition politicians and economists have criticized the high cost of project and lack of transparency.

PM Orban, over the years, has attempted to forge close relationship with Beijing. Hungary has been Beijing’s most reliable European ally, blocking a series of intended EU measures and statements on Hong Kong this year, and criticising Brussels’ sanctions over human rights infringements in Xinjiang.

"Fidesz is selling out wholesale the housing of Hungarian students, and their future, just so it can bring the elite university of China's dictatorship into the country," the organizers of Saturday's protest said on Facebook, referring to Orban's ruling right-wing party.

In an act of protest, Budapest's mayor Gergely Karacsony, announced last Wednesday (Jun 2) that streets near the planned campus would be renamed after Dalai Lama, the exiled spiritual leader of Tibet, while another will be called "Uyghur Martyrs' Road" after the mainly Muslim ethnic group that has faced oppression by Chinese regime. Another street was named “Free Hong Kong Road".

China has accused that "a few Hungarian politicians" were trying to grab attention and obstruct cooperation between China and Hungary.