Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's sympathetic position to Russia and Vladimir Putin and close ties with China and Xi Jinping has Republicans in Congress questioning why a NATO ally would be siding with its main adversaries.
"Look, you know, I grew up in the Cold War, I always view Russia, China — who is aligned with Russia, by the way — Iran, who is aligned with Russia, and North Korea as our foreign nation adversaries," Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, told Newsmax's "The Record With Greta Van Susteren" on Friday.
"So I don't understand this cozying up to Putin as strongman, nor do I think Chairman Xi has our best interests at heart."
McCaul, ranking Republican member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, is expected to chair the powerful committee in the next Congress.
Host Greta Van Susteren asked McCaul about reports Orbán has "embraced and cozied up" to China and Russia, but McCaul warned Russia and China are seeking to obtain more global influence.
Newsmax reported Friday that while U.S. conservatives have applauded Orbán, there are growing concerns as Hungary has become China's strongest ally in Europe.
Budapest has also become a critic of E.U. sanctions against Moscow while advocating for Russia's positions in Europe and the U.S.
"Chairman Xi has a very clear plan being laid out before his Congress of global military and economic domination, and we have to wake up to this, particularly after the pandemic and the threat he poses to the Pacific," McCaul told Van Susteren.
McCaul also criticized Hungary for not supporting strongly NATO's efforts to thwart Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.
"I think it's counterproductive to the policy of the United States — bipartisan policy to assist Ukraine in this effort — so we don't have to be involved in it and to stop Russian aggression that could go elsewhere," he continued.
Putin and Xi saw the U.S. also quickly leave Afghanistan, resulting in the Taliban retaking control of the country. He suggested the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan might have led to Putin's decision to invade Ukraine, and China's continued threats against Taiwan.
"I think this all started when Afghanistan fell and Putin saw weakness. It wasn't a question of 'if,' but 'when?'" McCaul noted.
"Chairman Xi's looking very closely at Taiwan — which, by the way, has 90% of the advanced semiconductor chip manufacturing in the world," McCaul said.
"There's a lot at stake here, and I don't like to see any NATO ally cozying up. The reason NATO was formed in the first place was to protect countries against Russian aggression. So I don't understand going against that — or siding with an ally of Russia, and that would be China and Chairman Xi."
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Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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