What will Chinese police officers do in Hungary? Here is the government’s answer
Gergely Gulyás, the head of the Prime Minister’s Office, explained what it will mean in practice that Chinese police officers will be allowed to appear in Hungary. It will not be what many people think.
A major news in recent months has been Hungary’s defence agreement with China. Then it emerged from the German newspaper Die Welt that, like in Serbia, Chinese police officers could appear in Hungarian cities.
The news was confirmed by the Ministry of the Interior. However, it was also quickly explained, as many people had already thought that Chinese officers would act against Hungarian citizens, Világgazdaság writes. “The aim of the cooperation agreement is to improve security in the tourist areas of the two countries during peak tourist periods and generally during events that attract large crowds,” the Interior Ministry underlined.
At the same time, they pointed out that agreements like the one with China are not unprecedented: Hungarian police officers also assist their Croatian colleagues on the Croatian coast during the peak tourist season, and Austrian police officers have already been on joint duty with their Hungarian colleagues at Lake Balaton.
What will Chinese police officers do in Hungary?
Exactly when and in which cities, and how many Chinese officers are allowed to patrol in Hungary, is a matter for the authorities to decide, who will set up this structure, taking into account the organisational aspects of the service, Világgazdaság explains.
At Thursday’s cabinet briefing, Gergely Gulyás, the head of the Prime Minister’s Office, shared some details of what the Chinese officers will be doing in Hungary.
444.hu asked him whether this agreement violates Hungary’s sovereignty. Gulyás replied,
“If Chinese police officers could take action against Hungarian tourists or tourists from Hungary, that would indeed violate it, but that is not the case here.”
They will not be allowed to carry weapons
He said that this cooperation is the same as the one with the Slovak, Austrian and Slovenian counterparts: police officers are sent from here to there and vice versa.
“The explanation for this case is that many tourists come and communication with them is difficult. In such cases, bilateral agreements are usually concluded and Hungarian police officers go abroad, for example, to Croatia, or Austrian, Slovenian and Slovak police officers come to Hungary,” he explained.
He stressed that Chinese police officers are not allowed to carry weapons or take action in Hungary, but can only patrol in pairs with Hungarian police.
This will be helpful when the Hungarian authorities check on Chinese people. When asked why, if that is the only role Chinese police officers play, they do not hire interpreters instead, Gulyás said that they will essentially play a similar role, but that their professional background makes it more advantageous to work with them in police operations and more effective in terms of crime prevention.
Read also:
- Appalling? Chinese police officers to soon patrol in Hungary
- DK: Orbán cabinet imports Chinese police to serve in Hungary
Source: