It was the stuff of Bond villains. Two ageing autocrats, their younger ally in tow, ambled down a red-carpeted ramp before a military parade in Beijing when a hot mic picked up a question that seemed to be on their minds: how long could they keep going – and, between the lines, might science allow them to rule for ever? With advances in technology, Russia’s Vladimir Putin assured Xi Jinping via his translator that “human organs can be constantly transplanted, to the extent that people can get younger, perhaps even…
Tag: Russia
The Guardian view on Xi, Putin and Kim: heed China’s statement of intent, but don’t take it as fact | Editorial
On Wednesday morning, Beijingers living near Tiananmen Square were issued with cold breakfast packs and ordered to refrain from cooking, lest smoke from stoves cloud the skies above the mammoth military parade. China’s Communist party goes to extraordinary lengths to ensure that nothing obscures the message of such performances – in this case, that Xi Jinping is reshaping the global order and that China is, in his words, “unstoppable”. The parade marked 80 years since the end of the second world war, positioning China as the critical force in victory…
Thursday briefing: China flexes its muscle in the tussle for global dominance
Good morning. All eyes have been on China this week as the second biggest global economy flexed its muscles. Dozens of world leaders, including from the global south, authoritarian pariah states and the EU, attended China’s largest ever military parade on Wednesday to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of the second world war, which China calls the war of resistance against Japanese aggression. China’s president, Xi Jinping, was flanked by the Russian and North Korean leaders, Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un, in what has widely been called a…
Hot mic catches Putin and Xi discussing organ transplants and immortality – video
The authoritarian leaders Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping mused on how organ transplants might lead to immortality during a brief exchange of small talk caught on a hot mic on Wednesday. The Russian president was in Beijing as a guest at a huge military parade marking the 80th anniversary of the end of the second world war The Guardian
Xi Jinping says world faces ‘peace or war’, as Putin and Kim join him for military parade
Xi Jinping said the world was facing a choice between peace or war as he held China’s largest-ever military parade, joined by Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un in a show of defiance to the west. Putin and Kim, the authoritarian leaders of Russia and North Korea, were among dozens of world leaders who attended the parade, a massive display of military hardware and personnel, orchestrated to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of the second world war, which China calls the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression. “Today, humanity…
‘He should come to Moscow,’ Putin says about peace talks with Zelenskyy – video
Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday he would meet Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Moscow if the Ukrainian leader was ready. ‘It’s possible, I never rejected it, if this meeting is well-prepared and will lead to some positive, possible results,’ the Russian president said at a news conference after attending a big military parade in Beijing to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of world war two The Guardian
Xi, Putin and Kim: behind the choreographed image that could symbolise a shift in the global balance of power
It is an image that, had it been published just a few years ago, would have been dismissed as a piece of mischievous photo-shopping: the leaders of Russia and China, accompanied by the head of a pariah regime whose mission to arm his country with nuclear weapons had been opposed at the United Nations by his two companions. But dramatic shifts in the geopolitical landscape – Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and, crucially, the re-election of Donald Trump – have combined to bring Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader…
Trump’s belligerence is pushing Xi, Putin and Kim together – and tearing the old world order apart | Simon Tisdall
Donald Trump’s first reaction to the disconcerting spectacle of China’s Xi Jinping, Russia’s Vladimir Putin and North Korea’s Kim Jong-un marching side-by-side at a huge military parade in Beijing was, predictably, all about him. This show of solidarity and strength, he complained, was nothing less than an attempt to “conspire” against the United States. Trump likes military parades – his own, that is. Even more, he likes to be on the podium, at the centre of attention. He casts himself as world number one. The images coming out of the…
Hot mic catches Putin and Xi discussing organ transplants and immortality
The authoritarian strongmen Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping have mused on how organ transplants might lead to immortality, during a brief exchange of small talk caught on a hot mic at a military parade. The Russian president was in Beijing on Wednesday with the Chinese leader, who hosted allies for a ceremony to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of the second world war. As Putin and Xi walked at the head of a delegation of foreign leaders, state media aired live footage that captured parts of what appeared…
Military reveals and bold messaging: five key takeaways from China’s big parade
Xi Jinping presided over China’s largest-ever military parade, orchestrated to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of the second world war, which China calls the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. The event caps off a big week of diplomacy for China’s leader, coming just days after the Chinese city of Tianjin hosted a major summit for leaders of the global south. Who was there Dozens of world leaders – mostly from non-western nations – attended the event, but it was the grand entrance of Xi Jinping accompanied by…