Hungary hopes for cooperation with China on Ukraine issue: Budapest

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Hungary welcomes China's commitment to reaching a settlement to the Ukraine war and hopes for fruitful cooperation with Beijing on the issue, Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said Monday.

Chinese Central Foreign Affairs Office Director Wang Yi arrived earlier on Monday in Budapest to meet with Szijjarto and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban to discuss Beijing and Budapest's ties, economic cooperation, and several regional issues, such as the Ukraine war.

"I would like to emphasize once again that we welcome China's position to achieve peace [in Ukraine] as soon as possible. I sincerely hope that we could successfully work together to do this, to achieve peace," Szijjarto told a press conference following his talks with Wang.

The Chinese top diplomat said both Beijing and Budapest wanted Moscow and Kiev to have peace talks and resolve the crisis in what serves the interests fo Europe and the entire world.

"China and Hungary are the countries that are committed to peace ... and willingly work together with other states that are also committed to peace so as to end the current military situation as soon as possible. We would want the sides to return to the negotiating table, find a resolution to the current situation ... that will benefit Europe and the entire world," Wang said.

Wang said Saturday at the Munich Security Conference that Beijing would draft and present a document by the end of February detailing its official position on the Ukraine war.

Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg described China's proposal for a possible peace settlement in Ukraine as "an interesting signal" from Beijing, Politico reported on Monday.

"The Chinese comments about a possible peace initiative are at least an interesting signal ... We have to wait and see what exactly China puts on the table," Schallenberg told Politico.  

This comes after Chinese Central Foreign Affairs Office Director Wang Yi said that President Xi Jinping would by the end of this month present a "peace proposal" that would outline Beijing's position on the war in Ukraine.

"China is obviously not happy with Russia’s actions in Ukraine and the global consequences, especially in the economic sphere," Schallenberg told Politico, which is questionable considering that the leaders of both countries have reaffirmed their bilateral ties several times over the past year. 

"We have to wait and see what exactly China puts on the table," he added.

The peace proposal may have been the product of a personal request issued by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to Chinese President Xi Jinping, whom the former had reportedly asked the Chinese leader to 'influence' Russia to end war in Ukraine. 

Chinese President Xi Jinping told his Russian counterpart on December 30, 2022, that China highly appreciates that Russia is not refusing to resolve the Ukrainian crisis through negotiations.

"The Chinese side has noted that the Russian side has said it has never refused to resolve the conflict through diplomatic negotiations and expressed its appreciation for this," Xi was quoted as saying in the video call by the Chinese news agency CCTV.

According to Sputnik, a UN source said another peace proposal is reportedly underway at the UN General Assembly and is scheduled to be voted on February 22. 

It reportedly involves a Kiev-initiated draft resolution on the "principles underlying a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in Ukraine," which will undermine Russia's demands to alleviate its own security concerns.

Russia's UN ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told Sputnik that Moscow is prepared to consider Ukraine's conflict settlement proposals if Russia's security demands are considered.