Budapest’s Chinese university campus preparations at a standstill – will it ever happen?

Since legislation paving the way for the university passed on June 15th, no work on the campus seems to have been done. As of today, both the university’s trust fund and its project company are yet to be established.

As shown by the demonstrations and campaigns earlier this year, many people are highly opposed to the idea of a Chinese university in Budapest. In early June, over ten thousand people protested against the construction of the campus. In another act of dissent, Budapest renamed a number of streets to further protest against the project,

including the perhaps now infamous “Free Hong Kong Road.”

It is unknown if this has anything to do with the apparent complete standstill of the project and the bureaucracy behind it.

A big part of why people were so against the otherwise good-ranking university was that it was set to be built on ground reserved for a “student town” dormitory project, which is planned to house many college students in Budapest. While the campus would, in fact, take up a large part of said landmass, there would be enough space left over for the construction of the student town. The decision to go through with the “lex Fudan” legislation despite the protests was also similarly controversial.

Other reasons include people fearing potential Chinese influence, as well as construction costs, which were estimated to be close to 1.3b€. The aforementioned legislation also states that the university’s yet-to-be-established foundation would receive state-owned real estate in the area for free.

While the government supports the idea of a poll regarding the campus and its location, such a referendum is likely to only happen after the next general election.

Source: hvg.hu