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Szabolcs Panyi Profile picture
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1 Jun, 9 tweets, 4 min read
Road of Uyghur martyrs
Free Hongkong Road
Dalai Lama Road
Bishop Xie Shiguang Road

- Opposition-led Budapest shows the middle finger by renaming streets around the area where PM Orbán’s gov't is building a campus for China’s Fudan University. telex.hu/belfold/2021/0…

THREAD👇
2/ Back in April, I broke the story on 🇭🇺 government plans of a €1.5 billion construction of Shanghai-based Fudan University’s Budapest campus.

Usual Belt and Road conditions apply: expenses are paid by Hungarian taxpayers, 80% covered by a 🇨🇳 loan. direkt36.hu/en/kinai-hitel…
3/ China State Construction Engineering Corporation (CSCEC), the company eyeing the construction contract of Fudan Hungary University, has been suspected of corruption and espionage in many parts of the world in recent years. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_Sta…
4/ CSCEC was involved in one of the most famous Chinese espionage scandals: the company that is likely to build Fudan Hungary University in Budapest is the same that erected the African Union’s HQ in Addis Ababa - and, as it turned out, bugged it. theguardian.com/world/2018/jan…
5/ Orbán’s pro-Chinese foreign policy has already made Budapest a spy hub.

Hungary is "a scene of intelligence operations where you can act with impunity, like in Switzerland or Austria. In Hungary, China is mostly wrestling with the US”.

My longread:
direkt36.hu/en/kemjatszmak…
6/ It seems that Fudan’s Budapest campus is extremely important to China.

A government document I obtained claims that Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi regarded Fudan as a 'a priority project’ and asked China’s minister of education to treat it as such. direkt36.hu/en/kina-megmon…
7/ The Chinese Fudan University's arrival to Hungary is happening just years after an American institution, @ceu was unlawfully kicked out of the country by Orbán’s government, a clear sign of waning US influence over the region - and the rise of China’s. bbc.com/news/world-eur…
8/ Orbán’s megalomaniac plans for the Chinese university in Budapest was met with resistance from the capital’s new leadership. Hungarian Greens are heading both the capital & its 9th district, and they became staunch enemies of Fudan’s campus. A summary:
apnews.com/article/hungar…
9/ As @brhodes noted, while autocratic leaders around the world are cooperating with each other, there is also an emerging solidarity between opposition movements. Renaming streets in Budapest to honor those persecuted by China is just the latest example.

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More from @panyiszabolcs

Szabolcs Panyi Profile picture
18 Apr
1/ While many countries show solidarity with Czechia & condemn Russia for the GRU operation killing two people in Vrbětice in 2014, don’t expect similar gestures from the pro-Kremlin Orbán government.

Here’s what Hungary did after the Skripal poisoning:
direkt36.hu/en/latszolag-o…
2/ Hungary never makes public its expulsion of Russian spies, we do so-called “silent expulsions” to mitigate any conflict with Moscow. This is the result of Orbán’s balancing act between Hungary’s NATO responsibilities and his pro-Kremlin foreign policy.

direkt36.hu/en/orosz-diplo…
3/ Hungary’s civilian counterintelligence, AH, under direct government controll, hasn’t caught Russian spies in ages.

It’s only Hungary’s small military security service, KNBSZ, that steps up against the GRU - because they have a strong attachment to NATO’s command structure.
Read 8 tweets
Szabolcs Panyi Profile picture
22 Mar
The personal story of Michael Kovrig, who just stood trial in Beijing, is just extraordinary.

Michael was imprisoned by China’s communist regime in December 2018.

His grandfather, János Kovrig was arrested and sent to labour camp during Hungary’s communist takeover.

THREAD
2/ Today, Kovrig stood trial in China after 2 years in detention. The Canadian ex-diplomat who works for @CrisisGroup is widely seen as a victim of hostage diplomacy - his arrest in Beijing came days after Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou was detained in Canada.
bbc.com/news/world-asi…
3/ Michael Kovrig, born in Canada, is the son of a Hungarian immigrant. Michael also holds a Hungarian (hence an EU) citizenship.

However, this is rarely known, partly because Hungary’s pro-Chinese gov't never once spoke publicly about Michael’s arrest: direkt36.hu/en/kemjatszmak…
Read 21 tweets
Szabolcs Panyi Profile picture
9 Dec 20
Why is Germany brokering an EU budget deal that lets Hungary off the hook & makes virtually impossible to sanction Orban’s rule of law breaches?

German companies were actually instrumental in building Orban's system from which they benefit hugely. THREAD direkt36.hu/en/a-magyar-ne…
2/ I published my in-depth reporting on Germany's automotive industry and Hungary a few months ago.

One main takeaway is that “executives of several German carmakers (...) absolutely feel that the Hungarian government is in their pockets”, a German business source told.
3/ Whenever the German automotive industry needs some lobbying in Brussels, Viktor Orban is there to help them out.

"Orban defends the interests of German car manufacturers in the European Council”, a former senior Hungarian government official told. Image
Read 13 tweets
Szabolcs Panyi Profile picture
4 Dec 20
1/ It seems that József Szájer’s scandal is triggering a possibly more serious one in Hungary.

Fidesz founder Zsolt Bayer (center), a friend of Szájer, told in a TV show that Szájer has been “fighting with his horrible demons” for a long time.

Then he mentioned pedophilia...
2/ After talking about Szájer’s “downward spiral", pundit Zsolt Bayer told a story about an unnamed "old friend and comrade” who came out to him, then “said that he likes going to Thailad because young boys are also available”. Opposition MPs instantly filed for criminal charges.
3/ “This is pedophilia and Bayer knew about it for 20 years”, opposition MP Bernadett Szel commented and filed a police report, asking investigators to summon Bayer for a questioning. Bayer instantly reacted by saying that he wasn’t talking about a politician but an “old friend”.
Read 7 tweets
Szabolcs Panyi Profile picture
1 Dec 20
1/ Why does it matter that Viktor Orbán’s close friend and ally, MEP József Szájer was caught having an orgy with 20+ men? Very simple. While he was enjoying himself in LGBT-friendly Brussels, he made life for LGBT people in Hungary miserable by rewriting the constitution. THREAD
2/ After Viktor Orbán came to power in 2010, Szájer famously drafted a new constitution for Hungary on his iPad (yes, really), becoming the legal architect of Orbán’s regime. There was no consultation with the opposition or anyone outside the government.
intellinews.com/prominent-orba…
3/ Here’s the English version of Hungary’s (Szájer’s) constitution. 'Article L' on "protecting the institution of marriage as the union of a man and a woman" was inserted, essentially making it impossible for gay couples to get married. But that’s not all.
njt.hu/translated/doc…
Read 12 tweets
Szabolcs Panyi Profile picture
17 Nov 20
It's often overlooked that linking EU funds to rule of law is a very personal threat to Viktor Orbán and his family too.

In recent years, my colleagues at @direkt36 have uncovered in details how EU funds enriched the Orbáns: the father, the brother and the son-in-law. THREAD.
2/ Győző Orbán Sr., the PM’s father made tens of millions of euros through Hungarian public works projects funded by EU money.

Orbán's companies were always sub-contractors or suppliers, hence they could avoid appearing in public databases for years.
direkt36.hu/en/rejtett-all…
3/ After a 3-year-long public information lawsuit, @direkt36 received additional documents related to the businesses of Orbán’s father. It turned out that he benefited from a road construction which was criticized by the EU due to its extremely high costs.
direkt36.hu/en/meg-a-korma…
Read 13 tweets

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