Budapest [Hungary], May 29 (ANI): Hungarian political opponents have promised to block the construction of the first Chinese university in the European Union (EU) due to financial and security risks to the project. did.

The government has stated that the project will raise the bar for education and provide students with globally competitive knowledge, Al Jazeera reported.

However, I am not sure of the opposition of the country. Budapest Mayor Gergely Calason, who wants to run for the prime minister’s opposition in next year’s elections, will use “all legal and political means” to thwart the right-wing government’s plan to build a Fudan University campus. promised. In the capital.

Fudan University is a Shanghai-based institution and is ranked among the top 200 universities in the world. It will be available in Hungary by 2024.

Under this plan, up to 8,000 students will live and study in a vast facility on the banks of the Donau River.

Hungary will receive a huge loan from Beijing to cover the full € 1.5 billion ($ 1.8 billion) to build the campus.

This raises concerns that it is increasing Hungary’s reliance on China, which has been accused of using debt trap diplomacy to strengthen its influence over other countries.

China is trying to harness its enormous fiscal firepower to gain influence in Central and Eastern Europe as part of a bid to boost profits within the EU and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban is trying to strengthen the link to the eastern part of Hungary as Hungary continues to take cash.

Critics have pointed out that Hungary will not receive loans under the EU’s reconstruction fund, indicating that Orban prefers almost unconstrained financing.

Hungary has regularly supported China’s interests due to growing tensions between Beijing and Western institutions.

Hungary ignored the US warning that Huawei is a security risk and let the company take the lead in building 5G networks.

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas proposed a severe backlash against Oban on May 10 after Budapest blocked the EU’s actions against China’s tightening of Hong Kong rule.

“This is not the first time Hungary has left unity on China’s issues,” Mars told reporters. Michael Ignatieff is president of Central European University, a US institution that was displaced from Budapest in 2018.

He calls the arrival of Fudan a “new blow to academic freedom”, suggesting that the university will not offer critical courses to either the Chinese or Hungarian governments. (Ani)