"Is it not a joy to have friends come from afar?" Confucius once said.
The ancient Chinese saying offers a fitting note as China welcomes Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday for his 14th visit to the country since 2013.
Putin used the same phrase when recalling his first meeting with Xi Jinping, then Chinese vice-president, in Moscow in March 2010. The meeting, he wrote in a signed article published in People's Daily in 2023, was held in a "business-like and at the same time sincere and friendly" atmosphere — a style of communication that he said he personally liked.
Three years following the early encounter, Xi chose Russia as the destination of his first overseas trip after taking office as Chinese president in 2013, underscoring the special weight of China-Russia relations in China's foreign policy.
During that visit, President Xi said that a high-level and strong China-Russia relationship serves not only the interests of both countries, but also the international strategic balance as well as world peace and stability.
