It was perhaps the most intriguing moment of their Moscow summit. As Xi Jinping left the Kremlin last night, he stood face to face with Vladimir Putin and told the Russian leader, ‘Change is coming that hasn’t happened in 100 years and we are driving this change together’. The two men clasped hands, smiling. ‘I agree,’ Putin said, briefly bringing up his free hand to hold Xi’s arm. The Chinese leader then added, ‘Please take care, dear friend’.
Both regard western democracies as decadent and in decline and share a culture of grievance and victimhood
Xi then walked down a step and into his limousine. Putin stood awkwardly at the curb side, waving, and very briefly appeared to bow his head as Xi’s cavalcade swept away. He cut a rather lonely figure.
Analysts have pored over every word, every nuance from this highly choregraphed summit, but those few unscripted moments on the Kremlin steps perhaps tell us more about Xi’s and Putin’s relationship than the reams of platitudes in official communiques.
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