Estonia: China pays costs of visiting Estonian MPs

A group of six MPs from Estonia are paying a ten-day visit to China, with local accommodation and transportation costs paid for by Beijing, ERR reports. The delegation consists of members of the Estonia-China parliamentary friendship group and is headed by the group’s chairman, Toomas Kivimägi, deputy speaker of the Estonian parliament, the Riigikogu. Kivimägi said that the local host is the China Institute of International Studies. The MPs will visit several cities across China and Hong Kong, meeting various officials and representatives of private business. Kivimägi said that the delegation saw a role for China in bringing an end to the war in Ukraine. Meanwhile, Estonia’s Foreign Minister, Margus Tsahkna, said that the visit “looks very bad,” pointing out that there was “no such thing as a free lunch,” especially in the People’s Republic of China.