What Does Xi, Putin and Kim’s Image Signify?

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00:00Okay, I mean, for a lot of people around the world, and you've already suggested that there are two audiences here,

00:05there's a domestic audience and an international audience.

00:07For the international audience, it was those images of President Xi Jinping, your president,

00:13President Vladimir Putin, and Kim Jong-un standing side by side.

00:17I mean, what does that image, do you think, say to the world?

00:21Well, I think the overall image is much bigger than the three heads of state,

00:25because we have about 27 heads of states and heads of government from all these 27 countries.

00:32And then if you count a deputy prime minister, foreign minister, ministers of all kinds, special presidential envoy,

00:39you actually have more than 50 countries represented, plus all the foreign countries' ambassadors to China,

00:47the UN representatives in China, other organizations throughout the world represented in this parade.

00:56I think more than 100 countries were represented for this parade.

01:02So, zooming in on three leaders out of these more than 100 countries represented in this parade is a little bit too selective.

01:11So, I don't think we need to read too much into it, but President Vladimir Putin was designated as the VIP number one.

01:20That's also for sure, because China, Russia, ever since 1991, has enjoyed a very good neighborly relations with each other,

01:32respecting each other, respecting each other, and our long border of 4,300 kilometers long, ever since 1991, has been unarmed.

01:42And it has become an enabler for a very frequent and large amount of people-to-people exchanges across the two sides of the border.

01:51So, it's not surprising that Vladimir Putin was the VIP number one, but he is the first among all the equals,

02:00and all the other heads of states and heads of government have been accorded the red carpet treatment

02:06and have been given full recognition as the representative of their own country.