Chinese President Xi Jinping hosted Russian President Vladimir Putin for a high-stakes summit on Wednesday, just days after wrapping up closely watched talks with Trump, which by all accounts failed to produce any Washington-Beijing breakthroughs.The optics were carefully engineered, and many international outlets observed Putin's state welcome was no less lavish and opulent than Trump's own, with the Russian leader entering Great Hall of the People with full military pomp, children waving flags, and the standard marching band - again, strikingly similar to the red-carpet treatment rolled out for Trump last week.For example, Al Jazeera writes that "We were expecting a more low-key ceremony, but he actually received an identical welcome treatment as Trump last week." And more:He had the red carpet rolled out for him; he received a 21-gun salute, as well as children waving Russian and Chinese flags, saying, ‘We warmly welcome you.’The only difference is who greeted Putin at the airport. With Trump, it was Han Zheng, the vice president, and for Putin, it was Wang Yi, the foreign minister.via SputnikPresident Xi in his opening remarks delivered a sharp critique of the current geopolitical landscape, warning that the world is at risk of regressing into the "law of the jungle" - but hailed the Beijing-Moscow alliance as a crucial stabilizing force against what he later termed "all unilateral bullying" in the international arena, which appeared a passing jab at the United States. The very timing of the Putin summit has widely been viewed as a display of leverage.Among key moments is that Xi called for "a comprehensive ceasefire" in the Middle East and the immediate reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. He characterized the standoff situation in the Persian Gulf as a "critical juncture between war and peace." Xi called for the "unimpeded flow" of crude transit through the strait, as it is in "the common interest of the international community.""My four-point proposal for maintaining and promoting peace and stability in the Middle East aims to further build international consensus and contribute to easing tensions, deescalating conflict, and promoting peace," Xi said on the Iran crisis according to state news outlet Xinhua. Noticeably absent, however, was mention of finding peace in Ukraine. They agreed that it was "necessary to address the root causes of the Ukrainian crisis."As for Iran, Xi also explicitly noted that further hostilities in the Middle East were "inadvisable" and that a "comprehensive ceasefire is of utmost urgency." Putin during the summit sought to assure Beijing that Moscow remains a "reliable energy supplier" amid global oil supply shocks, noting their bilateral relationship sits at an"unprecedentedly high level."He even at one point invoked a classical Chinese proverb to describe his relationship with Xi: "Even if we haven’t seen each other for a day, it feels like three autumns have passed."Xi Jinping welcomed Putin at Tiananmen Square