A hot mic at China’s military parade has caught Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin discussing immortality.
The leaders, who have held power for 13 and 25 years respectively, were chatting through their interpreters as the exchange was livestreamed on China’s state TV.
They were walking at the head of a delegation of foreign leaders when their private conversation was overheard.
“In the past, it used to be rare for someone to be older than 70 and these days they say that at 70 one’s still a child,” Xi’s Russian translator said to Putin.
Putin’s Mandarin translator then said: “With the development of biotechnology, human organs can be continuously transplanted, and people can live younger and younger, and even achieve immortality.”
Xi’s translator responded: “Predictions are, this century, there’s a chance of also living to 150 [years old].”
The comments were translated into English by the BBC and other media.
Later, Putin reportedly touched on the subject again while speaking with Russian media.
“Modern recovery methods, medical methods, even surgical ones dealing with the replacement of organs, enable humanity to hope for active life to last longer than it does today,” Russia’s Tass news agency said.
“Average age is different in different countries but life expectancy will increase significantly”.
Xi was flanked by Putin and North Korea’s Kim Jong-un in an unprecedented show of force at Wednesday’s massive military parade in Beijing.
Western leaders largely shunned the event, which marked 80 years since Japan’s defeat at the end of World War II.
Xi warned that the world faced a choice between peace or war.
“Today, mankind is faced with the choice of peace or war, dialogue or confrontation, win-win or zero-sum,” Xi told a crowd of more than 50,000 at Tiananmen Square on Wednesday (local time), adding the Chinese people “firmly stand on the right side of history”.
Riding in an open-top limousine, Xi then inspected the troops and cutting-edge military equipment such as hypersonic missiles, underwater drones and a weaponised “robot wolf”.
Helicopters trailing large banners and fighter jets flew in formation during a 70-minute showcase that culminated in the release of 80,000 “peace” birds.
Donning a tunic suit in the style worn by former leader Mao Zedong, Xi earlier greeted more than 25 leaders on the red carpet, including Indonesia’s Prabowo Subianto who made a surprise appearance despite widespread protests at home.
Victoria’s contentious Covid-19-era premier Daniel Andrews also attended the event. He was seen shaking Xi’s hand and was photographed with world leaders.
An other former premier, Bob Carr, is also in Beijing.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and other Labor figures defended Australia’s presence at the military parade, which featured tanks, state-of-the-art aircraft and perfectly synchronised troops.
Carr, also a Rudd-era foreign minister, said he was in Beijing for commemorations and while he go to the parade, he would have avoided being photographed with world leaders if he did.
“I certainly would have avoided them, if there were the remotest a possibility,” Carr told ABC’s 7.30 program.
Carr earlier posted on social media platform X that he would use his time in China to address Chinese foreign policy think tanks.
Asked why Andrews, who attended in a personal capacity, was arguably the most high-profile Australian at the event, Albanese batted away concerns.
“We’re sending a diplomat, we’ll be there,” he said in Canberra.
US President Donald Trump posted a comment directed at China’s Xi to his Truth Social platform.
“Please give my warmest regards to Vladimir Putin, and Kim Jong-un, as you conspire against the United States of America,” Trump wrote as the event kicked off.
He also highlighted the US role in helping China secure its freedom from Japan during World War II.
Trump had earlier said he saw the parade as no challenge to the US.
Xi has cast WWII as a major turning point in the “great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation”, in which it overcame the humiliation of Japan’s invasion to become a global powerhouse.
Earlier this week, Xi unveiled his vision of a new world order at a regional security summit, calling for unity against “hegemonism and power politics”, a thinly veiled swipe at his rival across the Pacific Ocean.
At a lavish reception after the parade at the Great Hall of the People, Xi told his guests that humanity must not return to the “law of the jungle”.
-with AAP
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