*

Xi Jinping on his first European tour in five years

*

Chinese president arrives in Hungary after visiting France

and

Serbia

*

China and Hungary are expected to sign 16 to 18

cooperation

deals

*

Hungary a big supporter of China's Belt and Road

infrastructure

project

By Anita Komuves

BUDAPEST, May 9 (Reuters) - Chinese President Xi Jinping

is due to meet Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban on

Thursday, with the war in Ukraine and infrastructure projects

high on the agenda, as he makes his third stop on his first

European tour in five years.

Xi, who arrived in Budapest late on Wednesday, can expect a

warm welcome in a country that is an important partner in trade

and investment, in contrast with other EU nations that are

considering diversifying from China and becoming less dependent

on the world's second-largest economy.

Xi has "developed deep friendships" with Hungarian

politicians and Hungary was "the number one target in the

central eastern European region for Chinese investment", Xi

wrote in pro-government daily Magyar Nemzet on Wednesday.

Xi arrived in Hungary after visiting France and Serbia. In

Paris, President Emmanuel Macron and EU Commission chief Ursula

von der Leyen pressed him to ensure more balanced trade with

Europe and use his influence on Russia to end the war in

Ukraine.

Ukraine will be high on the agenda during the talks in

Budapest as well, Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said at a

briefing earlier in the week.

Hungary and China, which mark their 75th year of diplomatic

relations, are also expected to sign 16 to 18 new cooperation

agreements, one of which could be a large-scale infrastructure

project within China's huge Belt and Road project, the minister

added.

Similarly to Serbia, Hungary is a supporter of China's Belt

and Road Initiative, an ambitious plan launched by Xi a decade

ago in the hope of building global infrastructure and energy

networks connecting Asia with Africa and Europe.

The relationship goes beyond trade and investment as China

offered cooperation on public security and law enforcement

issues to Hungary in February.

Orban started working on bringing his country closer to

Beijing right after he came into power in 2010. Warm political

relations turned into investments about a decade later when

battery and electric vehicle makers started to bring production

to Hungary.

One of the biggest investors, CATL, is building a 7.3

billion euro ($7.86 billion) battery plant in Debrecen while

Chinese EV maker BYD announced late last year that it was

building its first European plant in southern Szeged.

China brought battery production into Europe first to save

on shipping costs, as they were so heavy that it made sense to

move production next to car factories of companies such as

Daimler and BMW, Tamas Matura, assistant professor at Corvinus

University, said.

The next step is producing Chinese electric vehicles in

Hungary as the EU's protectionist plans are threatening their

expansion more and more, he added.

"These could affect them much less if they are already

established and produce inside the EU."