WSJ: China buys Hungary

[Syt]

Magyalarming!

WSJ: China Pledges Continued Support for European Debt

BUDAPEST–Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on Saturday said his country will continue to buy euro-denominated bonds and support Europe, in China's latest public endorsement of the efforts to contain a potential debt crisis in the common currency area.

The remarks by Mr. Wen, who was in Budapest on a five-day European tour that will also take him to London and Berlin, came as European leaders wrangle over mechanisms to provide fresh financing to Greece and head off a potentially destabilizing default by the country. Many European leaders see Chinese support as a key booster for market confidence in their sovereign finances, as well as a sign that China could diversify more of its massive foreign-exchange reserves into euro-denominated assets.

"China has been a heavy investor in the euro sovereign-debt market," Mr. Wen said at a news briefing. "We have bought a lot of euro bonds over the past years and we will continue to support Europe and the euro."

"China is ready to seize the opportunity together with its European partners, tackling challenges and driving development to support the quickest possible recovery of the global economy and stable growth," he said.

Mr. Wen didn't specify the amount China will invest on euro bonds, but he also said China will support the development of the Hungarian economy by buying a "certain amount of Hungarian government bonds," and the Chinese Development Bank will provide Hungary with a €1 billion loan.

"Hungary's financing is secure for now, but the current agreement means great security, dissolving all concerns regarding Hungary's medium-term financing," Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said. "This is a historical aid from China, helping us to go down the economic development path we were planning to take."

China's foreign-exchange reserves of more than $3 trillion--by far the world's largest--have made the country seen as a key source of capital by global corporate and political leaders. Chinese officials have repeatedly voiced strong support over the past year for the EU's measures to handle the debt crisis and have said that China has boosted its holdings of European bonds to help support those efforts, though it is unclear just how much China has invested in that effort.

Analysts believe about two-thirds of China's reserves is invested in dollar assets, mostly Treasury debt. Chinese officials have said frequently in recent years that they want to diversify their holdings, but there are few other asset classes that can absorb investments on such a huge scale.

In Hungary, Mr. Orban said China will double its trading volume with the country to US$20 billion by 2015. China will also establish a European logistics and transport hub in Hungary, in line with Hungary's earlier hopes to become a European hub for China as a logistics and commercial distribution center.

"Talks today showed that China indeed would like to transport through that hub," Mr. Orban said.

Chinese investments could create several thousand jobs, Hungarian development minister Tamas Fellegi said in a statement earlier.

As an example of the volume of agreements, chemical companies signed an agreement worth $1 billion, Mr. Orban said without providing company names.

Mr. Wen arrived in Budapest Friday to discuss Chinese companies' investments in Hungary with Mr. Orban and will attend a central European-Chinese trade summit Saturday afternoon. He will travel to the U.K. later Saturday and to Germany on Monday before returning to China on Tuesday night.

[Jacob]

Interesting times ahead.

[MadImmortalMan]

The Iron Curtain returns. One link at a time. 

[Zanza]

China should buy all the debt. Then we can safely default.

[Admiral Yi]

I would advise the Tibetans not to seek recognition in the General Assembly any time soon.  The Vietnamese probably shouldn't raise the issue of the Spratleys there either.

It will be interesting to see if push comes to shove whether the Chinese are more subtle than Russia has been with its natural gas diplomacy.

[Zanza]

I would advise the Tibetans not to seek recognition in the General Assembly any time soon.  The Vietnamese probably shouldn't raise the issue of the Spratleys there either.

It will be interesting to see if push comes to shove whether the Chinese are more subtle than Russia has been with its natural gas diplomacy.

Didn't the Euro crisis show us that being a big creditor gives you rather limited influence on a sovereign country while at the same time exposing you to considerable risks of default? As the saying goes, if you owe 1000 dollar, that's your problem, if you owe a million (nowadys should be a trillion I guess), that's the banks problem.

[Martinus]

What a pathetic excuse for a human being Orban is. On one hand he has been hunting communists and decrying the EU as imposing on Hungary's sovereignty when the EU criticized the anti-freedom-of-press legislation in Hungary. But on the other hand he sells his country off to the Chicoms.

[Tonitrus]

The ChiComs aren't in striking distance.

Edit: We'll, we haven't quite justified using ICBMs for defaulting on a loan yet, anyway.

[Admiral Yi]

Didn't the Euro crisis show us that being a big creditor gives you rather limited influence on a sovereign country while at the same time exposing you to considerable risks of default? As the saying goes, if you owe 1000 dollar, that's your problem, if you owe a million (nowadys should be a trillion I guess), that's the banks problem.

China is probably less interested in a purely financial return on investment than a bank is.  And China is sitting on an enormous stash of loanable funds.

[Tamas]

What a pathetic excuse for a human being Orban is. On one hand he has been hunting communists and decrying the EU as imposing on Hungary's sovereignty when the EU criticized the anti-freedom-of-press legislation in Hungary. But on the other hand he sells his country off to the Chicoms.

The IMF's low-interest loan offer was refused on grounds of an "economic freedom fight" (ie. they wanted to look in our books if we took the loan), now we take up the soap for the Chinese and the government is selling it as great victory.

Shameful. According to Orban, the EU is this evil opression machine bent on selling Hungary out for foreign interest, while China is the champion of economic progress and a strong man we should be proud to serve. Mind-blowing.


My nation has been balancing on the edge of survival for centuries because we never accepted to be ruled by an Eastern-type power. To see us activetly trying to help China circumvent EU tariffs to flood it's market  just breaks my heart.

[Tamas]

BTW, if my math is correct, that 1 billion euro we got as Chinese loan is just half of what we recently spent (out of the nationalized pension funds money) on buying up the 21% worth of Russian stock packet in our oil company, to prevent "foreign influence on our economy".

Fuck these guys.

[Tamas]

And needless to say, that the Tibetians living here were harassed into inaction (they were ordered to appear in the immigration office due to "administrative problems" during the visit), and those who attempted to protest the Chinese were not allowed.

One of the major online newsistes/magazines made a collection of the statements of the governing party's leadership from 2008, when they (from opposition) were the champions of the freedom of Tibet, and a berzerk opposers of evil communist China. 

[Syt]

Didn't the government also create laws that they can take over foreign companies in case of an "emergency"? What assurances do the Chinese have that this won't happen to them?

[Zanza]

Didn't the government also create laws that they can take over foreign companies in case of an "emergency"? What assurances do the Chinese have that this won't happen to them?

I was under the impression that protection of property (especially for foreigners) is rather weak in China, too. So maybe they just think that's a normal state of affairs.

[Martinus]

What a pathetic excuse for a human being Orban is. On one hand he has been hunting communists and decrying the EU as imposing on Hungary's sovereignty when the EU criticized the anti-freedom-of-press legislation in Hungary. But on the other hand he sells his country off to the Chicoms.

The IMF's low-interest loan offer was refused on grounds of an "economic freedom fight" (ie. they wanted to look in our books if we took the loan), now we take up the soap for the Chinese and the government is selling it as great victory.

Shameful. According to Orban, the EU is this evil opression machine bent on selling Hungary out for foreign interest, while China is the champion of economic progress and a strong man we should be proud to serve. Mind-blowing.


My nation has been balancing on the edge of survival for centuries because we never accepted to be ruled by an Eastern-type power. To see us activetly trying to help China circumvent EU tariffs to flood it's market  just breaks my heart.

Admit it, you just love that hard oriental cock up your arse. Now that the Turks are not available anymore, you turn to China.