President Xi Jinping greeted the Russian leader in Beijing, welcoming him as my old friend.

習近平主席在北京向俄羅斯領導人致意，歡迎他成為我的老朋友。

This is Mr Putin's first foreign trip since his unprecedented re-election for a fifth term, and his second visit to China in six months.

這是普京先生史無前例地第五次連任後的首次出訪，也是他在六個月內第二次訪問中國。

It comes as the war in Ukraine has left Russia diplomatically isolated across much of the West, as well as facing unprecedented sanctions.

烏克蘭戰爭使俄羅斯在西方大部分地區遭到外交孤立，並面臨前所未有的制裁。

So President Putin is seeking to strengthen friendships elsewhere.

是以，普京總統正在尋求加強與其他地方的友誼。

Let me take you live to Beijing, where we are expecting the two leaders to hold a news conference in the next little while.

讓我帶您現場直播北京，我們期待兩國領導人在接下來的時間裡舉行新聞發佈會。

You can see that on the right-hand side of the screen.

你可以在螢幕右側看到。

Now, the talks have gone on longer than we expected, and I can bring in our China correspondent, Stephen McDonald, who is in Beijing.

現在，會談持續的時間比我們預期的要長，我現在請正在北京的本臺駐華記者斯蒂芬-麥克唐納（Stephen McDonald）發言。

Mr Putin getting the full red carpet treatment, and these talks, Stephen, going on longer, as I said, than we expected.

普京先生得到了紅地毯般的禮遇，而這些會談，斯蒂芬，正如我所說的，持續的時間比我們預期的要長。

Yeah, well, often these things do sort of run late.

是啊，這些東西經常會遲到。

I mean, I suppose I should say, when you mention news conference, I don't think...

我的意思是，我想我應該說，當你提到新聞發佈會時，我不認為...

Well, I'd be very, very, very surprised if there is a genuine news conference featuring those two leaders.

如果真的有這兩位領導人出席新聞發佈會，我會非常、非常、非常驚訝。

They may come out and make a few statements in front of the cameras, but Xi Jinping doesn't take questions from the press, for example, so I don't think there will be a news conference in any real sense.

他們可能會出來，在鏡頭前發表一些聲明，但習近平不接受媒體提問，所以我認為不會有真正意義上的新聞發佈會。

But when we look at what's going on at the Great Hall of the People today, the Biden administration has already accused the Chinese government of materially supporting Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine.

但是，當我們看到人民大會堂今天發生的一切時，拜登政府已經指責中國政府在實質上支持普京入侵烏克蘭。

Now, when I say materially supporting, that's equipment, goods, which are being sent to Russia, apparently with a sort of a civilian use, but really which are being used to fuel the war.

現在，當我說物資支持時，那是設備、貨物，它們被運往俄羅斯，表面上是民用，但實際上是用來助長戰爭的。

What this trip is all about is also providing Vladimir Putin with moral support.

此行的目的還在於為弗拉基米爾-普京提供道義上的支持。

There he is.

他來了

He's quite isolated on the world stage.

他在世界舞臺上相當孤立。

He can't travel to many countries for fear of being arrested and sent to the International Criminal Court.

由於擔心被捕並被送往國際刑事法院，他無法前往許多國家。

Here, he can have a grand meeting in which he would appear to many of his own people to be more of a genuine, normal world leader than an international pariah.

在這裡，他可以舉行一次盛大的會議，在許多本國人看來，他更像是一個真正的、正常的世界領導人，而不是一個國際賤民。

And then when he has his meeting with Xi Jinping, I'll give you a few quotes from both of them.

然後，當他與習近平會面時，我會引用他們兩人的話。

He said that...

他說

Stabilising factors.

穩定因素。

This is Vladimir Putin.

這就是弗拉基米爾-普京。

I think many people in Ukraine would find that pretty laughable that he would be getting up and saying those things mid-invasion of another country.

我想很多烏克蘭人都會覺得這很可笑，他竟然會在入侵另一個國家的時候站起來說這些話。

And yet, here this is all treated seriously and reported in the Chinese press, and Xi Jinping responds to him that these two countries are upholding justice in the world.

然而，中國媒體卻認真對待並報道了這一切，習近平迴應他說，這兩個國家正在維護世界正義。

You know, again, I think many would find that a bit hard to believe that these two leaders, they may do many things, but promoting justice in the world wouldn't be at the top of the pile.

你知道，我想很多人都會覺得這有點難以置信，這兩位領導人可能會做很多事情，但促進世界正義卻不會排在第一位。

Another thing that China is doing for Russia is buying goods.

中國為俄羅斯做的另一件事是購買商品。

The most recent figures show an uptake in Russian gas being imported into China by 40%.

最新數據顯示，中國進口的俄羅斯天然氣增加了 40%。

Now, that doesn't make up for all the lost revenue for Gazprom following European countries not buying that gas from Russia anymore.

但這並不能彌補歐洲國家不再從俄羅斯購買天然氣給俄羅斯天然氣工業股份公司帶來的收入損失。

But it's also not nothing.

但也並非一無是處。

And so there's Russia, its economy struggling with sanctions on it.

俄羅斯也是如此，它的經濟因制裁而舉步維艱。

Along comes China, a country which says it's neutral when it comes to the war and essentially propping up the Russian government.

中國也來了，在戰爭問題上，中國說自己是中立的，本質上是在支持俄羅斯政府。

Because after all, many analysts would say that what Vladimir Putin really is doing is China's dirty work by undermining Western democracy, by eating up NATO resources, and allowing Xi Jinping to sort of step back and say, oh, it's got nothing to do with us.

因為畢竟，許多分析家會說，普京真正做的是中國的髒活累活，他破壞西方民主，蠶食北約資源，讓習近平可以退一步說，哦，這與我們無關。

Stephen Macdonald, live in Beijing.

斯蒂芬-麥克唐納，北京現場報道。