The recording of the Xi/Putin dialog was deleted at China’s request. Politicians talked about immortality
6 September 20:13
Reuters has removed a four-minute video of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping discussing immortality. This was done at the request of China Central Television (CCTV).
Reuters clarified that CCTV had revoked its legal permission to use the footage. The agency received a written request from a lawyer of China State Television, which stated that the news agency had violated the terms of the use agreement and criticized the “editorial attitude” to this material. The text of the document also mentioned that “the editorial correction led to a clear distortion of the facts,” "Komersant Ukrainian" reports.
“We guarantee the accuracy of the published information. We have carefully reviewed the published materials and have found no reason to believe that Reuters’ long-standing commitment to accurate and impartial journalism has been violated,” Reuters said in a statement.
The agency also noted that the video was distributed to more than 1,000 Reuters clients around the world. They will also have to delete the video.
What did Putin and Xi talk about?
The video in question was published by foreign news agencies on September 3. In it, Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un are seen having an informal conversation on the way to a military parade in Beijing.
As Bloomberg reported, at first, only fragments of the Chinese president’s phrases were heard on the recording, in which the words “these days” and “70 years” can be heard. After that, his interpreter speaks in Russian: “In the past, people rarely lived to be 70 years old, and now at 70, you are still a child.”
Putin’s response was also not heard by the journalists. However, the Chinese translator then said: “With the development of biotechnology, human organs can be transplanted continuously, and people will be able to get younger and younger and even achieve immortality.”
“Forecasts show that in this century there is a chance to live to be 150 years old,” Xi Jinping replied.
Social media users who watched the broadcast were the first to pay attention to the conversation. According to The Washington Post , the Chinese platform Weibo posted many posts discussing life up to 150 years old. At least one medical company took the opportunity to advertise its services. However, the search query “150 years” was later blocked on Weibo.
At the same time, Russian President Vladimir Putin confirmed that such a conversation between the leaders had indeed taken place.
“Yes, yes, I think it was him, when we were going to the parade, the [Chinese] president spoke about it. Yes, Mr. [Silvio] Berlusconi was actively developing this topic at the time. Well, yes, modern means of health improvement and medical treatment, even surgical operations related to organ replacement, allow humanity to hope that active life will not last as long as it does today, but will significantly increase life expectancy,” the Russian dictator said at a press conference in China.
