China's head-of-state diplomacy: China-Russia friendship is deep-rooted, ever-growing

Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Moscow for a state visit to Russia on March 22, 2013.

Chinese President Xi Jinping meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin in Moscow, March 22, 2013. (Photo/Huang Jingwen)

"Russia was the first country I visited after I was elected President," Xi said, adding that the decision indicated that China placed great importance on ties with Russia.

President Xi once again chose Russia as the first destination of his overseas visit in a new term of office in March 2023. While meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Xi said that during his visit, he saw many ordinary Russians in the street waving their hands at the Chinese motorcade in a demonstration of goodwill. He saw clearly that China-Russia relations have strong public support.

Amity between the people holds the key to sound state-to-state relations. Ten years ago, during his last activity in Russia, President Xi had a meeting with Russian sinologists, Chinese-learning students and media representatives.

Thanks to the long-running cultural interaction and integration, the bilateral friendship is deep-rooted and ever-growing, he said to the cultural ambassadors.

President Xi showed a deep knowledge of Russian literary giants such as Pushkin, Lermontov and Tolstoy, which was admirable, recalled Taras Ivchenko, head of the Confucius Institute of Russian State University for the Humanities, who attended the meeting.

After President Xi's first visit to Russia, people-to-people and cultural exchanges between China and Russia have deepened in an all-round way, and bilateral friendship has grown vigorously, Ivchenko said. Noting that he has always remembered President Xi's encouraging words, Ivchenko has strived to serve as a symbolic bridge of cultural exchanges.

President Xi has paid particular attention to the active role of youth friendship exchanges in the development of China-Russia relations. The youth is the hope of human progress and future of China-Russia friendship, Xi said.

President Xi arrived in Vladivostok for the fourth Eastern Economic Forum at the invitation of President Vladimir Putin in September 2018. He told a story about a Chinese boy named Xi Junfei while delivering a speech at the forum.

Xi Junfei, from Beichuan county in southwest China's Sichuan Province, is one of 996 children who came to the All-Russian Children's Center "Ocean" in Vladivostok for recuperation after the devastating Wenchuan earthquake in Sichuan in 2008. These children from quake-hit areas received meticulous care at the center. Before Xi Junfei returned to China, he threw a drift bottle, with a letter that carried his gratitude to Russians and his wish into the sea. Magically, the bottle was picked up by a staff member of the center after a four-month sea voyage.

Now, Xi Junfei is a second-year PhD student at Far Eastern Federal University in Russia. Recalling the meeting with President Xi at the All-Russian Children's Center "Ocean" in 2018, Xi Junfei said President Xi encouraged the young people of the two countries to carry forward the great cause of China-Russia friendship from generation to generation.

Xi Junfei hopes that he can encourage more young people with his personal experience, and help advance people-to-people and cultural exchanges between China and Russia.