Hungary: China is a strategic trading partner for the EU and a significant source of foreign direct investment, according to Hungary's Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto, who also cautioned that any attempt to cut back on ties with Beijing would be disastrous for the union.

He claimed that both "decoupling" and "de-risking" would be "suicide" for the EU economy in an interview with CNBC on Tuesday at the World Economic Forum's annual conference in Tianjin, China.

The European economy would be destroyed if you managed to decouple. Szijarto enquired.

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The minister's warning comes amid increasing pressure from Washington to adopt a more circumspect stance towards Beijing, and as EU nations struggle to develop a unified strategy on China.

Although the United States continues to be the EU's main trading partner, China was the continent's top exporter and third-largest importer in 2022.

Szijjarto emphasised that Hungary does not see China as a threat and sees no justification for "de-risking," a term Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, used in a speech in March to urge Europe to lessen its reliance on China for trade.

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We see China as a country with which, through cooperation, you can gain a great deal," the Hungarian said.

Szijjarto warned that treating China as a rival was futile and urged other European leaders to be more reasoned, describing the political climate in Europe as "very ideological, very emotional."

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"It's obvious that if you want to compete with China, if you want to look at China as a rival to us, then we Europeans will lose," he declared.

Szijjarto proposed, "Why don't we start to make an even closer relationship with China than before, and why don't we return to the basis of reason, common sense, reality, and pragmatism."