November 29th, 2017
A pro-government columnist hopes that the modernization of the Budapest-Belgrade train line will help boost the Hungarian economy. His left-wing counterpart, on the other hand, fears that it will only be beneficial for Chinese exporters.
Magyar Idők’s Attila Mártonffy welcomes the announcement of the public tender for the construction of a Budapest-Belgrade high speed train line, to be financed from a 3 billion USD Chinese loan. The pro-government commentator sees China’s increasing interest in the region as indicating that Central and Eastern Europe has become an important economic powerhouse. Mártonffy hopes that the Budapest-Belgrade train line project will boost Hungarian exports to China and open the doors for more Chinese investment in Hungary.
In Népszava, Tamás Rónay worries that the train line will serve Chinese interests alone. The left-wing columnist doesn’t find the prospect of boosting Chinese exports to Europe a hundred per cent positive. For China, he argues, Hungary is only important as a country that helps Chinese companies get into the EU market.
Tags: China, economy, trade
