Open microphones capture Xi's conversation with Putin about immortality

Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin discussed immortality and new technologies to prolong life ahead of a grand military parade in Beijing on Wednesday, a conversation captured by open state media microphones.

In highly symbolic scenes, Xi shook hands with Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and chatted with both as they walked the red carpet in Tiananmen Square.

“Today (…) 70 years,” said the Chinese president, speaking in Mandarin, as he walked alongside Putin and Kim, according to footage from the official CCTV channel.

Xi's translator, who was relaying his remarks to Putin, then quoted in Russian a line from a Tang Dynasty poem: "In the past, people rarely lived to be 70, but nowadays, at 70, you are still a child."

The Russian president then turned to Xi and spoke, gesturing with his hands, but his remarks could not be heard on the CCTV broadcast.

The Chinese translator relayed Putin's comments to Xi seconds later. "With the development of biotechnology, human organs can be transplanted continuously, people can live increasingly younger, and even achieve immortality," he said, according to the interpreter.

Xi returned to speaking Mandarin when the camera moved away from the presidents: “Predictions indicate that, in this century, it may be possible to live to 150 years old.”

Putin confirmed the conversation during a brief press conference. "I think it was when we were going to the parade that the president mentioned it," he told reporters, referring to Xi.

"Modern technologies, related to advances in health and medicine, such as surgical methods related to organ transplants, allow humanity to hope that active life will continue, not as it is today," the Russian president added.

The presidents of China and Russia, both 72, have expressed no intention of leaving power.

Xi's predecessors, Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao, stepped down after 10 years in office, but Xi abolished term limits in 2018 and in 2023 won a third term as president.

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