Chinese enterprises play a significant role in Hungary’s economic development, having become the second largest investor group in the country by 2025, Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto said on Wednesday.
Over the past 10 years, the Hungarian government has signed agreements with Chinese companies on 80 major investments, creating 50,000 local jobs, said Szijjarto at the opening ceremony of Chinese heavy machinery manufacturer Zoomlion's intelligent manufacturing plant project in Tatabanya, western Hungary.
Szijjarto said Hungary has benefited from the all-weather comprehensive strategic partnership for the new era signed with China in 2024, noting that 30 percent of Chinese foreign direct investment in Europe went to Hungary in 2025.
Chinese companies become second largest investor group in Hungary in 2025
The assassination of Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, further destabilizes Iran's political system and complicates prospects for a diplomatic solution to the ongoing conflict, said experts on Wednesday in Xi'an City, Shaanxi Province, northwest China.
Iran's Supreme National Security Council confirmed on Tuesday that Ali Larijani had been killed. He was the target of an Israeli airstrike, which also killed his son and others.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said the killing of Larijani is a major loss to the country.
According to experts on the region, Larijani was a key figure who might have brought about a political resolution to the war.
"The system is going to lose a figure that was able to be pragmatic, diplomatically experienced, and capable also of making the internal case for engagement when needed," said Matteo Capasso, professor of Middle East Studies at China's Northwest University.
Larijani served as Iran's nuclear negotiator, parliamentary speaker, and secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, all the while bridging moderates and hardliners.
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the killing of Larijani was an effort to weaken Iran's leadership.
Experts, however, said it is a tactic to disrupt the internal order of Iran.
"This would lead to a very (significant) political power vacuum inside Iran. This would endanger the political stability inside the country. So, that's why I don't think it would be an easy task for Iran to overcome the difficulties, although we hope that the political instability could be overcome. But I think it would be a political challenge for Iranian people that they need to face in the future," said Wang Jin, director of the Center of Strategic Studies at Northwest University.
Iran said it has identified three to seven backup candidates for key government and military positions, but the continued attacks targeting Iranian senior officials have pushed the war further from reaching a deal.
"With every assassination and every agreement being broken and every bomb, this puts the U.S. in a situation where it really needs to decide how far they are willing to go in order to allow Israel to impose its vision on the region," said Capasso.
Killing of Larijani dims prospects for diplomatic solution to Iran conflict: experts
