“The Prevention of Legal Risk and Building of Legal Mechanism for the Construction of the 'Belt and Road' is a large-scale CASS investigation project implemented by CASS Law Institute and CASS Institute of International Law between 2019-2022. On May 24-29, 2019, a research team of CASS Law Institute and CASS Institute of International Law headed by Professor Mo Jihong, Director of CASS Institute of International Law, visited Hungary to carry out investigations on the Hungarian foreign investment system, the relevant EU legal system and market rules, and the potential legal risks faced by Chinese enterprises investing and operating in Hungary. During the four-day visit, the research team carried out investigations at the Commercial Office of the Chinese Embassy in Hungary, a major construction projects invested and operated by Chinese companies, a famous law firm in Hungary, and the main think tank of Hungary, and collected in a comprehensive way the relevant local laws and policies and first-hand materials about local practices.
On the morning of May 25, the research team visited the famous Hungarian law firm Nagy és Trócsányi ügyvédi Iroda, and held a talk with one of the funders of law firm and the current Minister of Justice, Mr. László Trócsányi, and the two partners of the law firm, Berethalmi Péter and Varga Zoltán, on the legal environment for foreign investment in Hungary, the legal problems faced by Chinese enterprises in Hungary. The hosts and guests agreed to establish an Overseas Practice Base of CASS Institute of International Law within the law firm and Professor Mo gave his new book “Ruling the Country by Law in a Comprehensive Way and Constructing the Rule of Law in China” to the law firm as a gift.
On the afternoon of May 25, the research team visited the Commercial Office of the Chinese Embassy in Hungary and exchanged opinions with Mr. Liu Po, the commercial counselor of the Embassy, on the legal risks faced by Chinese enterprises investing in Hungary.
On the afternoon of May 26, members of the research team went to the streets of Hungary to carry out random interviews of ordinary Hungarian citizens on such issues as the Belt and Road Strategy, the investment by Chinese enterprises in Hungary and the bilateral trade relationship between China and Hungary.
On May 27, the research team visited the CASS China-CEE Institute in Budapest and held a meeting with two research fellows at the Institute, Professor He Zhigao and Professor Ma Junqi, on such issues as the purposes, development history, work method, and the academic activities carried out by the Institute.
Then the research team visited Antar Knowledge Center, the main think tank of Hungary, and held a meeting with Mr. Zsolt Csepregi, the person in charge of international affairs of the Center, on the development history, the organizational structure, and the main research fields of the Center and its cooperation with CASS. After the meeting, a seminar on the “Forty Years of Legal Reform in China” was held at the Center, in which members of the research team introduced, each from the perspective of his or her own research field, the achievements made by China in the development of the rule of law during the past 40 years.
On May 28, the research team visited Kazincbarcika, a city in the northeast part of Hungary, to carry out investigation on China-Hungary Borsod Economic and Trade Cooperation Zone, the largest Chinese investment project in Hungary, and held talk with Mr. Wang Lihai, the head of Legal Affairs Department of the BorsodChem, on such issues as the investment history, the current operating situation, and the main products of Wanhua Chemical Group Co., Ltd. in Hungary, the relevant Hungarian and EU market rules and the legal risks faced by the corporation in the country.
On May 29, the research team completed its investigations in Hungary and left for Poland, the next stop of the investigation tour. Members of the research team include Liao Fan, Jiang Xiaohong, Huang Jin and Wang Tianyu.
