Friendship of Xi, Putin sets course for ties

Two countries' relations resemble 'big ship' navigating through changeable conditions

"For a big ship, a big voyage," President Xi Jinping said, quoting a Russian proverb, during his first visit to Russia as president of China in 2013.

During the visit six years ago, Xi called for concerted efforts by China and Russia to build their relationship into a vessel big and strong enough to wend its way through the changeable seas of international affairs.

Xi practices what he preaches. Since 2013, he has met his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin nearly 30 times in an unusually vigorous streak of head-of-state diplomacy, and the two leaders have turned the China-Russia relationship into a big ship featuring the highest degree of mutual trust, the highest level of coordination and the highest strategic value.

"I have had closer interactions with President Putin than with any other foreign colleague. He is my close and best friend. I cherish dearly our deep friendship," Xi said in an interview with Russian media on Tuesday ahead of his eighth presidential trip to Russia.

As the two countries celebrate the 70th anniversary of their diplomatic relations this year, Xi arrived in Moscow on Wednesday for yet another state visit to China's Eurasian neighbor, where he will also attend the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum for the first time.

Xi said he looks forward to charting the course of the China-Russia relationship together with Putin and to seeing that their comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination will confidently stride into a new era.

For Auld Lang Syne

The friendship between the two presidents set sail in spring of 2013 when Xi arrived in Moscow for his first visit to the country as Chinese head of state.

Besides attending more than 20 activities and meetings with Russian people from various walks of life, Xi became the first foreign head of state to tour the combat command center of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.

Putin, who spent eight hours with Xi during the latter's one-and-a-half-day stay, said the visit was of historical significance.

Long before the historic visit, the two presidents had developed a fondness for each other's country.

Xi, born in the 1950s, was influenced by Russian literature as much as others of his generation in China. He mentioned Russian writers from poet Alexander Pushkin to playwright Anton Chekhov when delivering a speech at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations.

Sports-loving Putin is a fan of Chinese martial arts. During a state visit to China in 2006, he visited Shaolin Temple, the cradle of Chinese kung fu, beside Songshan Mountain in Henan province.

After watching a martial arts show, the Russian president walked among the performers, tossed an 8-year-old monk into the air, and caught him on his shoulders.

Unbreakable bond

In September 2016, China's eastern city of Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, was roasting in sweltering heat. Putin, in town for the G20 Summit, gave Xi the perfect treat - Russian ice cream.

Thereafter, an ice cream company based in Russia's East Siberian city of Khabarovsk, received orders from nearly 100 Chinese importers in the three months after the summit, the company's manager said.

It was a prime example of how Xi and Putin's interactions have stimulated bilateral cooperation.

"Both President Putin and I have attached great importance to and been actively promoting the cooperation between China and Russia on trade and economy," Xi said during a state visit to Russia in 2015.

When China decided to host an international forum in 2017 on the Belt and Road Initiative, a proposal aimed at building a trade and infrastructure network connecting Asia with Europe and Africa along the ancient Silk Road trade routes, Putin was one of the first leaders to accept the invitation. He also attended the second forum.

Spearheaded by the two presidents, outstanding achievements have been made in aligning the BRI and the Russia-led Eurasian Economic Union. The alignment has not only promoted regional prosperity, but also signaled to the outside world China and Russia's commitment to an open world economy.

It is with the same spirit of mutual support that Xi will attend the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok in September, and the Chinese president will also take the podium at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum this week.

Leaders' influence

What is of more far-reaching significance is that the two leaders have also influenced how the Chinese and Russian people see and relate to each other.

In 2015, as Xi was awarding commemorative medals to Russian veterans who fought on the battlefield in China during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1931-45), he saw a 90-year-old man having difficulty walking.

"Let me come to you," Xi said to the elderly soldier. The touching scene aroused in both the Chinese and Russian people vivid memories of the old and deeply rooted friendship between the two nations forged with blood, sweat and tears during wartime.

In 2017, Putin awarded Xi the highest honor of Russia, the Order of St. Andrew the Apostle the First-Called. Putin said to Xi: "Though you are the leader of a great country, you did not talk much about your own contributions. You are very humble.

"Many of the key issues between Russia and China either were solved or made progress thanks to your personal efforts," he said. "The order is proof of your outstanding contributions to the construction of Russia-China relations."

A year later, Xi awarded Putin the first-ever Friendship Medal of the People's Republic of China.

Their hands-on style

The two presidents' hands-on leadership in promoting bilateral relations stems from their common perspectives on the importance of China-Russia ties and on international issues.

"We share similar views on the international landscape and approaches to national governance," Xi said in the interview with Russian media.

"Most importantly, we share a high degree of consensus on the strategic significance of the China-Russia relationship and therefore the same resolve and desire to deepen and sustain its growth."

Putin has stressed on several occasions that it is a priority of Russia's foreign policy to deepen its comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination with China.

Xi, as early as during his first state visit to Russia six years ago, said China and Russia enjoy one of the world's most important bilateral relationships and the best among major-country relations.

In his eyes, high-level and strong Sino-Russian relations not only serve the interests of both sides, but also play an important part in safeguarding the international strategic balance, world peace and stability.

"For many years, both countries have made efforts to improve the global governance system in order to make it more equitable and inclusive," said Yana Leksyutina, a professor at St. Petersburg State University.

Dmitry Novikov, first deputy chairman of the International Affairs Committee of the Russian State Duma, said that the unprecedentedly high-level interaction between China and Russia has become an advanced model of interstate relations in today's world.

Xinhua