Putin giving Xi Jinping the emperor treatment

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Kremlin in Moscow Credit: Reuters

Putin is giving Xi the emperor treatment – and the perfect platform for his anti-Western agenda By Sophia Yan CHINA CORRESPONDENT Russian cosmonauts flying the Chinese and Russian flags in space. “A warm welcome to Russia for the leader of China,” emblazoned on giant blue billboards. A dinner menu including roast venison in cherry sauce, sturgeon soup, quail and mushroom blinis, Siberian white salmon, pomegranate sherbet, a pavlova dessert, and two wines chosen by Russian president Vladimir Putin himself. Talk about pulling out all the stops. Russia is rolling out the red carpet for Chinese leader Xi Jinping, who arrived March 20 for a three-day visit. Mr Xi, who fashions himself among China’s greatest leaders, is likely enjoying every minute of this lavish display, one fit for an emperor. He might even have wondered whether Mr Putin chose pomegranate especially to please him. One of China’s core propaganda lines is that the country’s numerous ethnic groups ‘live in harmony, just like the seeds of a pomegranate’ despite much evidence that many, like the Uyghurs, suffer from serious human rights abuses. Xi and Putin at the Kremlin. Credit: AFP This is Mr Xi’s first visit to Moscow since Russia invaded Ukraine, though he has on many previous occasions met and spoken with Putin. The two world leaders have met more than 40 times since Mr Xi took the reins in 2012. China proclaims it is neutral over what it insists on calling “the Ukraine crisis”, despite Mr Xi’s decade-long bromance with Putin – a relationship that both sides have indicated is only blossoming, not fading. For Mr Xi, this is an opportunity to again broadcast to the world his view that the US-led West is in decline and that regimes like his and Putin’s are on the rise. Chinese state media has proclaimed how China-Russia ties are “true multilateralism,” a “real” partnership that allows for the interests of both sides to flourish – a jab at the US for being a domineering bully. Beijing has also used the visit to accuse the US of fanning the flames of war, and opposing a ceasefire – something China has called for, without offering a concrete proposal on how to achieve a resolution. But most of all, it’s a chance for Mr Xi to indicate to the world that it ought to capitulate more to Beijing. As the visit shows, Mr Xi indeed is the only leader of global stature who can capture the attention of a man who appears to have no interest in listening to anybody else but himself.