Hungary builds Fudan campus with huge loan from mainland

The entrance of Fudan University in Shanghai. Fudan is about to build a branch in Hungary. (Sina Weibo photo)

The famous mainland university Shanghai Fudan University is going to set up a branch in Budapest, Hungary, which will be the first Chinese university branch in the European Union if it is completed. According to the Hungarian media “Direkt36” reported on the 6th, the project cost of the campus is up to 1.5 billion euros, which is higher than the national spending on higher education in Hungary in 2019. The report also mentioned that China Construction Group, which was recommended to build the project, was involved in a “wiretapping scandal” at the African Union headquarters it is building.

The campus is scheduled to open in 2024 and will offer courses for more than 6,000 students, Direkt36 said, citing a series of documents about Fudan University Hungary. 1.3 billion euros ($12 billion) more than the total spending on higher education in Hungary in 2019.

Of this, except for part of the construction costs directly by Hungary, the rest is a loan from the Chinese side, with China Development Bank lending €1.3 billion on favorable terms.

China Construction Group bid for the project at a price of just under 1 billion euros (about HK$9.23 billion) and was recommended by Hungary’s Ministry of Innovation and Technology. The group has made it clear in its bid that it will use a certain number of Chinese workers and will import construction materials from China. The Hungarian side has also decided that the construction of the school will be the sole responsibility of the Chinese side and will be supervised by a commissioner appointed by the Ministry of Innovation and Technology.

Meanwhile, the report singled out China Construction Group, which in 2017 was involved in a “bugging scandal” at the AU headquarters, which was officially funded by the Chinese government and built by China Construction Group, when a “bugging device” was discovered at the AU headquarters and data was transmitted nightly to Shanghai. The Chinese government was involved in a “wiretap” at the AU headquarters, which was discovered to have a “bugging device” that transmitted data to Shanghai every night, raising questions about whether China was monitoring the AU.