BUDAPEST, Hungary — (AP) — Chinese leader Xi Jinping will spend most of his five-day tour in Europe this week in two small countries in the continent’s eastern half, a region that Beijing has used as a foothold for its expanding economic ambitions in Europe.
Following a stop in Paris on Monday to kick off his first European trip in five years, Xi will travel to Hungary and Serbia, two nations with autocratic leaders that are seen as China-friendly and close to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
As mainstream European leaders have pursued more protectionist policies to limit Beijing and Moscow’s reach on the continent, the governments of nationalist conservative leaders Viktor Orbán of Hungary and Aleksandar Vučić of Serbia have courted economic ties with China, inviting major investments in infrastructure, manufacturing, energy and technology.
As the first European Union country to participate in Xi’s signature Belt and Road Initiative, Hungary has straddled a middle ground …