After watching Nikita Khrushchev’s repudiation of Stalin lead to a revolution in Hungary, Mao Zedong concluded that under one-party rule, no amount of political liberalization is safe. The defeat of Viktor Orbán in Hungary’s parliamentary elections last month most likely reinforced that lesson for Chinese President Xi Jinping.
NEW YORK—Ever since the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, the country has served as a cautionary tale about the dangers of political reform in one-party states. After Viktor Orbán’s defeat in Hungary’s parliamentary elections last month, this lesson is being pondered again by the world’s autocratic powers—not least China.