China Russia Photo:VCG

Russian President Vladimir Putin awarded Order of Friendship to Xia Baolong, vice-chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, for his outstanding contribution to China-Russia cooperation and friendship, Russian media outlet Sputnik News reported on Wednesday.  

Putin highly praised Xia's great contribution to Russia-China friendship, cooperation and mutual understanding, the media report said. 

The Order of Friendship is awarded to Russian and foreign citizens for their special accomplishments in strengthening peace, friendship, cooperation and mutual understanding between peoples. It also considers their fruitful work on rapprochement and mutual enrichment of cultures of nations and ethnicities, active efforts on preservation, increase and popularization of Russia's cultural and historical heritage, labor achievements in industry, agriculture and other fields of economy, TASS reported in March. 

The then Chinese Ambassador to Russia Li Hui was awarded with the Order of Friendship by Putin in 2019. 

"Such outstanding award presented to Xia conveys the special significance, as it's not only affirming the role of the Chinese official in strengthening China-Russia relationship, but also the recognition of China-Russia friendship," Yang Jin, an expert at the Institute of Russian, Eastern European and Central Asian Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Wednesday. 

China and Russia are model strategic partners that have deep trust in each other. Any Western force trying to sow discord between the two is doomed to fail, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi told Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in a recent phone call. 

Xia, who is also the head of the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council, was put onto the sanction list by the US government in 2020 over the Hong Kong matter. However, he has been firmly pushing forward the Hong Kong-related policies, for example, the electoral reform, to guarantee that the anti-China rioters cannot enter the governance body anymore, crushing the West-led color revolution attempts.