China’s Xi gives Putin a red-carpet welcome – and makes a veiled jab at the US | CNN

Chinese leader Xi Jinping hailed ties with Russia as a force for “calm amid chaos” during a meeting with Vladimir Putin in Beijing on Wednesday, days after Xi hosted President Donald Trump for a landmark US-China summit. Xi alluded to an increasingly fractious international situation – and took a veiled jab at the US – as he sat down with Putin in the Great Hall of the People for meetings kicking off the Russian leader’s roughly 24-hour state visit in the Chinese capital. “The international situation is marked by intertwined turbulence and transformation, while unilateral hegemonic currents are running rampant,” Xi said, using Beijing’s typical language to criticize what it sees as American foreign policy overreach. In the face of this, China and Russia should enhance their “comprehensive strategic coordination,” Xi said, according to Chinese state media. For Xi, hosting leaders of both the US and Russia – two nations mired in conflict – in the space of a few days is a boon as he aims to cement China’s reputation as a global powerbroker. But while both leaders received a red-carpet welcome, Putin’s visit was marked by a more outward display of the friend