A ceremonial hoisting of the flag of Hungary is held to mark the 175th anniversary of Hungary's 1848 revolution and freedom fight, at the Kossuth Square in front of the parliament building in Budapest, Hungary, on March 15, 2023. (PHOTO / XINHUA)

BUDAPEST - The government of Hungary does not want the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to become an anti-China bloc, Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said on Wednesday at the close of a NATO foreign ministers' meeting in Brussels.

Instead of rivalry, mutually beneficial cooperation is needed, he said.

According to Szijjarto, the relationship between NATO and China should not be described as military in nature.

We don't want NATO to become an anti-China bloc. We don't see the meaning of rivalry, we don't see the logic of it, and we don't see what good could come out of it.

Peter Szijjarto, foreign minister of Hungary

"We don't want NATO to become an anti-China bloc. We don't see the meaning of rivalry, we don't see the logic of it, and we don't see what good could come out of it," he said.

Instead of rivalry, Hungary's government is interested in mutually beneficial cooperation, which he said was not only possible but also necessary, especially in the context of the automotive revolution.

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He recalled the example of European car manufacturers, who have become "completely dependent on South Korean and Chinese electric vehicle batteries".

"All those who are calling for the separation of the Chinese and European economies risk giving a huge blow to the European economy," he said.

Without the Sino-European cooperation, there is no new European automotive industry and no successful European environmental protection either, he warned.

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Szijjarto also tackled China's peace plan for Ukraine, which he believed could be a suitable starting point for international negotiations. "We want peace talks to start as soon as possible, because the sooner there is a ceasefire, the more lives we can save in Ukraine," he said.