Cheering children - check. Military honour guard – check. Cannon fire and marching band - check.
Vladimir Putin's welcome outside the Great Hall of the People was a near mirror image of the reception for Donald Trump last week.
Two high-stakes presidential visits, just days apart, is exactly the image Xi Jinping wants to project to the world: talking to everyone, tied to no-one.
For China, these visits are proof that because of its massive economy and newfound diplomatic clout, all roads now lead to Beijing.
The new era of world affairs is less centered around the West, states Samir Puri from Kings College London.
There is a lot of latent power that China has on the world stage; it's not necessarily using it in its most direct form to settle conflicts. Instead, China's style is to try and utilize its stature in a more gradual sense.
The optics were strikingly similar - Xi confident in the spotlight as he played host. But the politics driving the two visits were very different.
Putin, who has visited China more than 20 times, appears to have a close personal relationship with Xi. However, the war in Ukraine and Western sanctions have left him leaning heavily on Beijing, which is now Russia's top trading partner and its biggest customer for oil and gas.
It has been an unequal partnership for some time now, reinforced during the most recent talks which ended with over 20 agreements on trade and tech, yet no approval for the stalled Russian gas pipeline that Putin has long pushed for. A lengthy joint statement yielded no major breakthroughs.
Both China and Russia need each other, but Russia clearly needs China more than before at the global stage, notes Dr. Zheng Runyu from the Centre for Russian Studies at East China Normal University.
Given today's international environment, deep cooperation with China is extremely important for Russia to deal with many of its current challenges.
Xi's diplomatic engagements with both Trump and Putin have underscored a significant shift in China's global posture. Stronger trade relationships and its dominance in rare earth minerals have provided Xi with leverage, showcasing China's ability to engage on equal footing with the West, especially amid the unpredictability of Trump's leadership.
In contrast, while Xi called for an end to the war in Iran, he made no mention of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, prompting scrutiny over China’s purported neutrality as it strives to become a more balanced global player.
As China navigates this new found prominence, the upcoming challenges remain—balancing its relationships while contending with growing distrust in the West over human rights issues and its strict governance.
The past week of high-level diplomacy has marked a remarkable turnaround for a nation that, just five years ago, seemed on the verge of complete diplomatic isolation.
