Xi Jinping says Vladimir Putin is his ‘best friend’
Chinese president gives Russian leader ‘friendship medal’ during Beijing visit

Chinese premier Xi Jinping has awarded his country’s Friendship Award to Vladimir Putin, calling the Russian president his “best, most intimate friend”.
Putin took a detour en route to a security summit in the Chinese port city Qingdao in order to accept the medal - China’s “highest state honour” awarded to foreigners - at a ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, reports Singapore-based newspaper The Strait Times. The two leaders then attended an ice hockey between the youth teams of Russia and China.
The medal is the latest in a series of public gestures of admiration between the pair. On Xi’s last visit to Moscow, in July 2017, Putin made him a member of the Order of St Andrew, Russia’s highest chivalric order.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Presenting the Russian president with the Friendship Award, Xi first paid tribute to Putin as a “good and old friend of the Chinese people”.
Putin’s remarks, however, were notably less effusive. “I see this as an acknowledgement and an evaluation of Russia’s efforts to develop a comprehensive strategic partnership with China,” he said, making only passing mention of “our personal friendship”.
He was more more forthcoming about his friendship with Xi during an interview with Chinese state broadcaster CGTN earlier this week.
Asked for his impression of the Chinese leader for life, Putin said Xi was “approachable and sincere”, as well as “perhaps the only state leader who has celebrated my birthday with me”.
“We just had some vodka together and carved some sausage,” he recalled, adding: “I have never had such a relationship or arrangement with any other foreign colleague”.
Maria Repnikova, assistant professor of global communication at Georgia State University, told CNN that there is an element of political play-acting to their public displays of mutual admiration.
“Both countries really use their relationship to showcase [that] there is an alternative to the American hegemony, and they've been doing that for a while even before Trump,” she said.
“This closeness is aimed towards a global audience, not just Russian or Chinese viewers.”
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
What should you be stockpiling for 'World War Three'?
In the Spotlight Britons advised to prepare after the EU tells its citizens to have an emergency kit just in case
By Elizabeth Carr-Ellis, The Week UK Published
-
Carnivore diet: why people are eating only meat
The Explainer 'Meatfluencers' are taking social media by storm but experts warn meat-only diets have health consequences
By Elizabeth Carr-Ellis, The Week UK Published
-
Scientists want to fight malaria by poisoning mosquitoes with human blood
Under the radar Drugging the bugs
By Devika Rao, The Week US Published
-
'Americans deserve immigration officials who are transparent about what they do and why'
instant opinion 'Opinion, comment and editorials of the day'
By Anya Jaremko-Greenwold, The Week US Published
-
Did Vladimir Putin just play Donald Trump?
Today's Big Question The Russian president rejected a full ceasefire after long conversation with his US counterpart
By Richard Windsor, The Week UK Published
-
Is Donald Trump a Russian agent?
The Explainer 'We have to consider the possibility that President Trump is a Russian asset' former Tory minister Graham Stuart tweeted last week. Do we?
By The Week UK Published
-
How feasible is a Ukraine ceasefire?
Today's Big Question Kyiv has condemned Putin's 'manipulative' response to proposed agreement
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published
-
Trump and Putin: Not a hoax
Feature Trump is pulling the U.S. closer to Russia, undoing decades of diplomacy
By The Week US Published
-
Has Starmer put Britain back on the world stage?
Talking Point UK takes leading role in Europe on Ukraine and Starmer praised as credible 'bridge' with the US under Trump
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
'The West's response has become critical'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
Donald Trump's foreign policy: a gift to China?
Talking Point Trump's projection of raw, unfocused power is fuelling the sense that his America is to be feared, even by its allies
By The Week UK Published