BEIJING, July 17. /TASS/. China commends Hungary's mediation efforts in resolving the Ukrainian conflict and is ready to cooperate with Budapest in this direction, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lin Jian said a regular press conference.
"China commends Hungary’s constructive mediating role for peace. We stand ready to work with Hungary to bolster the force for peace and steer the situation toward a political settlement," the diplomat said.
From July 2 to 11, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban visited Kiev, Moscow, Beijing and Washington. His trip began the day after Hungary took over its six-month presidency of the EU Council. The discussion of potential peace initiatives without the participation of the European Commission and without the permission of Brussels caused outrage in the EU leadership, where they considered that Hungary was undermining European unity and the European Commission’s course towards the highest possible level of support for Ukraine.
Even before Orban’s visit to Russia, the European Commission and the European Council stated that he did not receive any mandate to negotiate with Russia. As a result the European Parliament introduced its first "departmental sanctions" against Hungary, announcing that, contrary to tradition, Orban, as the prime minister of the EU presidency, would not be invited to the first session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg from July 16 to 19.