📰 On October 7, 2026, Taiwan’s Central News Agency (CNA) correspondent Liu Yu-ting reported from Budapest on the exhibition “Solidarity and Strategy: The 1956 Hungarian Revolution and Taiwan”, now on display at Central European University. This 70-year-old chapter of Taiwan–Hungary friendship is also featured on our Taiwan & Hungary page.
Highlights from the report
- The exhibition opened during the Budapest Forum and runs at the CEU Democracy Institute until December 15. It tells the story of how Taiwan actively supported the 1956 Hungarian Revolution.
- In 1956, young people and citizens in Hungary rose up against Soviet oppression. Although Taiwan was still rebuilding after the war and short of supplies, the government of the Republic of China and the Taiwanese public decided to send “300,000 pounds of sugar and rice” to Hungary through the International Red Cross.
- The aid did not come from the public alone. The research team found a handwritten official fundraising document from November 25 to December 25, 1956, at Taiwan’s National Central Library, and a government gazette noted that donations mailed to help Hungary needed “no postage stamps”.
- The Republic of China, which then held China’s seat at the United Nations, spoke up for Hungary at the UN General Assembly, and local petitions were organised in places such as Chiayi County.
What the curator said
- Curator Szél Bernadett (風映月), a former member of the Hungarian Parliament and now a researcher, said the project began by chance: her friend Rácz Gábor, who had worked as an academic in Taiwan, came across a clue that Taiwan might have sent aid in 1956.
- “Taiwanese people really have a strong spirit of helping one another, and it was the same back then,” she said. The documents on display are only the tip of the iceberg, and there is much more to research.
- She also noted that history has no hero script. Some of the Hungarians who visited Taiwan at the time had far-right backgrounds, and some appear in Taiwanese records only under Chinese names, so their identities are still being verified. Taiwan itself was under Chiang Kai-shek’s authoritarian rule, which shows that “fighting for freedom does not necessarily mean fighting for democracy”.
- For her, this history is a reminder that democracy must be protected continuously, together with like-minded friends.
Visitor information
- Dates: October 1 – December 15, 2026, Monday to Friday, 9:00–18:00
- Venue: Central European University (CEU), lower ground floor lobby, 1051 Budapest, Nádor utca 15.
👉 Read the full report and photos on CNA (in Chinese)
Related: Taiwan & Hungary
Source: Central News Agency (CNA), reported by Liu Yu-ting in Budapest, October 7, 2026.
