China-Russia Ties: President Xi presents Putin with China Friendship Medal

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President Xi Jinping has conferred the country's first Friendship Medal upon Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. The medal is the People's Republic of China's highest order of honor. Over the past decade, China and Russia have made constant progress in bilateral relations. CGTN's ZHENG CHUNYING traces those steps.

China's highest state order honors Vladimir Putin for his outstanding contributions.

XI JINPING CHINESE PRESIDENT "President Putin, with his great global influence, is the founder and promoter of the profound friendship between China and Russia in today's era. President Putin is Chinese people's most respected, and most familiar head of State and he is also my most intimate friend."

In recent years, guided and promoted by President Xi Jinping and President Putin, China-Russia relations have reached a historic high.

Following President Xi's visit to Russia in March 2013, the two have met frequently.

Over the past five years, they have met on more than 20 occasions, five times in 2017 alone.

On July 4th 2017, in Moscow, Putin presented President Xi with Russia's highest honor.

However, looking back at history, the two countries have not always lived in peace with one another.

At the peak of Cold War tensions, the two almost went to war over territorial conflicts on Zhenbao Island in 1969.

But when the Cold War ended in the 1990s, diplomatic tensions thawed as the two countries expanded economically. They found it mutually beneficial to pursue a constructive partnership. The success of this new alliance led to the 2001 Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation. The alliance between these world superpowers has served to make both countries more powerful.

China and Russia have worked together on the global stage such as in the BRICS and Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

With China's expanding influence in Central Asia, Sino-Russia ties play a much more vital role than ever in the development of the SCO.

Russia is more concentrated on international security issues, and China has focused its attention on economic governance and multilateral bodies such as the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.

VLADIMIR PUTIN RUSSIAN PRESIDENT "Our objective was quite small. But as we worked together on these small issues, we found similarities between us. We realized that together we could achieve something bigger."

Like many other countries, strategic ties wouldn't exist when there are differences in cognition.

And for today's China and Russia, perhaps it indeed is the common ideology, strong consensus, and huge potential for win-win cooperation that bring them happily together. Zheng Chunying, CGTN.