China decoupling would be an act of 'suicide' for Europe, Hungary's foreign minister says

Hungary's overseas curate said Tuesday that immoderate determination to decouple, oregon adjacent de-risk, from China would beryllium an enactment of "suicide" for Europe.

Péter Szijjártó said that curtailing ties with Beijing — 1 of Europe's biggest commercialized partners and a large root of overseas nonstop concern — would fundamentally termination the region's economy.

"Both decoupling and de-risking would beryllium a termination committed by the European economy," Szijjártó told CNBC's Sam Vadas astatine the World Economic Forum's yearly league successful Tianjin, China. "How could you decouple without sidesplitting the European economy?"

European leaders person until present struggled to formulate a unified Sino-European strategy, with immoderate states echoing U.S. calls for a implicit disassociation — oregon decoupling — with Beijing, portion others person preferred a softer attack of mitigating risks.

The contented is simply a peculiarly delicate balancing enactment for Europe, which remains profoundly reliant connected U.S. enactment successful Ukraine but besides has captious economical ties with Beijing. China was the largest root of EU imports and the third-largest purchaser of EU goods successful 2022, according to Eurostat.

Szijjártó, for his part, said that Hungary — which holds notably much cordial relations with China than immoderate of its European counterparts — does not presumption China arsenic a menace oregon a risk, and truthful sees nary crushed for "de-risking."

"We look astatine China arsenic a state with which, if you cooperate, you tin instrumentality a batch of payment retired of it," helium said.

Beijing is Budapest's largest trading spouse extracurricular of the European Union and its fig 1 capitalist truthful acold this year. Szijjártó said helium expected Chinese overseas nonstop concern successful the state to treble this year, from 6.5 cardinal euros ($7.1 billion) to 13 cardinal euros.

The bulk of past year's inflow was owed to a $7.6 cardinal concern — Hungary's largest ever — by Chinese artillery shaper Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Limited successful a caller mill successful the country. The works is expected to work automakers with factories successful Hungary, including Mercedez Benz, BMW, and VW.

Szijjártó said specified investments highlighted Hungary's captious relation successful Europe's car manufacturing manufacture and its strategical value successful the portion — peculiarly arsenic automakers modulation toward electrical vehicles.

"These large Chinese investments travel to Hungary due to the fact that of the German carmakers being contiguous successful Hungary," Szijjártó said.

"So erstwhile the German overseas curate speaks astir decoupling, the CEOs of the German carmakers usually telephone maine to person their Chinese suppliers to travel to Hungary," helium continued.

"There's a large spread betwixt the governmental cognition and the world connected the ground. A decoupling would termination the European system and beryllium precise harmful to the German system arsenic well."

Dubbing the governmental ambiance successful Europe arsenic "very ideological, precise emotional," Szijjártó said that treating China arsenic a rival was futile and called connected different European leaders to look up to beryllium much rational astir that "reality."

"It's evident that if you privation to vie with China, if you privation to look astatine China arsenic a rival to us, past we Europeans volition suffer connected it," helium said.

"Why don't we travel backmost to the ground of rationality, communal sense, world and pragmatism, and wherefore don't we commencement to marque an adjacent person narration with China than before."

His words travel arsenic allies successful the bloc person questioned China's increasing assertiveness, peculiarly amid rising tensions astir Taiwan and Beijing's enactment for Russia's warfare successful Ukraine.