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We are now living most dangerous moments in world politics: Hungary PM

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
22 Jul 2023 19:43
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The "million dollar question" that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban asked is whether such a conflict between the US and China can be avoided.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban holds a year-end international press conference at the government headquarters in Budapest, Hungary, Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2022. (Szilard Koszticsak/MTI via AP)

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Saturday that the decline of the US is paving the way for the country to head towards a possible conflict with China.

But the "million dollar question," he said, is whether such a conflict can be avoided.

"We are now seeing that America's dominance on the world stage is constantly shrinking... We are now living through the most dangerous moments in world politics when the number one world power sees that it is slipping into second place... We are moving toward a clash day by day. The million dollar question is whether it is possible to avoid a collision," Orban said in the Romanian city of Baile Tusnad, as aired by the М1 broadcaster.

Citing several successful Chinese projects, including the Belt and Road Initiative, the BRICS organization, and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, he further noted that it is "an inconvenient truth" for the US that "the current processes favor Asia and China in terms of economy, technological development, and military power."

The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, for instance, has "resources for development [that] are several times greater than those of all Western countries."

The Hungarian official also made reference to a long-term plan "to make China great again" and a medium-term program to "restore dominance in Asia that existed before the West's arrival."

"The Chinese are simply laughing" at US soft power and so-called universal values, as such concepts "run counter to most non-Western states."

On June 16, Former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger said in an interview with Bloomberg that a military war between the US and China over Taiwan is likely, given the current state of the two countries ties.

"On the current trajectory of relations, I think some military conflict is probable," Kissinger said in the interview. "The current trajectory of relations must be altered."

It is now up to both parties, in Kissinger's words, to step back from "the top of a precipice."

On April 2, a top US General, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley, warned that China is currently on a course to becoming "militarily superior" to the US by 2049.

"They have a significant nuclear capability today and they have intercontinental ballistic missiles that can range the United States," Milley said before the House Armed Services Committee during a hearing on the 2024 budget of the Department of Defense.