Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin Share One of the Friendliest Relations Between World Leaders

HONG KONG, May 19. /TASS/. The relations between Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin is one of the friendliest and most cordial between world leaders, the South China Morning Post said.

"Over the years, their rapport has been defined not only by summits and state visits, but also a growing catalogue of highly personal rituals involving food, birthday celebrations, sports events, boat rides and lakeside tea," said the article dedicated to the Russian leader’s upcoming two-day visit to China.

Since his official inauguration in 2013, Xi Jinping has met with Putin more than 40 times, significantly more than with any other Western leader.

The South China Morning Post listed some highlights of the leaders’ meetings. "When the APEC Bali summit in October 2013 coincided with Putin's 61st birthday, Xi presented him with a cake and the two leaders celebrated together over sausage and vodka," the newspaper recalled. Another highlight was the Russian president’s 2018 state visit, during which he "tried his hand at making Tianjin's famous jian bing guozi - pancakes wrapped around fried dough sticks - which he served to his host during a banquet." "Putin also made baozi, or steamed stuffed bun, which was preserved - rather than eaten - by Tianjin restaurant group Go Believe, which reportedly had it 3D-scanned and reproduced, keeping the replica as part of its corporate collection," the article said. The South China Morning Post also recalled that Xi Jinping "presented Putin with China's first friendship medal on a large gold chain, calling him a ‘good and old friend of the Chinese people’." In September 2018, "the two leaders showed off their cooking skills again, this time in Russia, donning blue aprons to cook up some traditional Russian pancakes, called blini, which they topped with caviar and washed down with vodka shots," the newspaper pointed out.