Hungary's Viktor Orban is a conservative darling with close ties to China

NEW YORK — Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban is enjoying an unusual moment as the rare NATO ally leader beloved by both American conservatives and the Chinese Communist Party.

Orban’s status as an icon of international conservatism was burnished last month by Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who touted the Hungarian leader’s tough border security policies as a victory for national sovereignty. And yet Orban has also drawn applause from Chinese General Secretary Xi Jinping — and protests from some Hungarian citizens — due to his enthusiastic economic partnership with Beijing, a relationship maintained in defiance of U.S. warnings that those ties leave Hungary vulnerable to surveillance and even coercion.