Hot Mic in Beijing Captures Leaders’ Drive for Longevity
Xi, Putin and Kim enjoyed a chat about living longer. With all three positioned to remain in power as long as their health allows, it poses questions for the US
BEIJING—The spectacle of the leaders of China, Russia and North Korea sitting side by side and watching a parade of intercontinental ballistic missiles and other advanced weapons in Beijing on Wednesday raised no shortage of questions of great consequence for the U.S.
A hot-mic moment between them shortly beforehand, as they walked together up a red-carpeted ramp, brought up one such riddle: Just how long will these three leaders be sticking around?
With advances in technology, Russian President Vladimir Putin tells China’s Xi Jinping through a translator, “human organs can be constantly transplanted, to the extent that people can get younger, perhaps even immortal.”
“It is predicted that by the end of the century, people in the future could live to be 150 years old,” Xi responds.
Kim Jong Un, three decades younger than the leaders of Russia and China, looks on smiling.
The simple answer is that the U.S. will likely have to contend with the trio of strongmen for years to come. Each is positioned to remain in power as long as their health allows—if not longer. None has an evident succession plan.
Xi, 72 years old, took power in 2012 and has pushed through overhauls that potentially allow him to serve as leader for life. Putin, also 72, has ruled Russia for 25 years; constitutional changes made on his watch allow him to stay in power until 2036. Kim, 41, is in position to rule for life, as his father and grandfather did before him.
The health of each is a secret, making their appearance together Wednesday, and their small talk about longevity, fresh fodder for actuarial speculation.
The trio steadily climbed a flight of stairs, side by side, to the parade-viewing rostrum. While there, Xi, dressed in a Mao suit buttoned to the throat, seemed to manage well on a steamy morning in Beijing, while Kim, seated next to the Chinese leader in a dark suit and tie, appeared to try to cool himself with a hand-held fan.
Putin appeared relaxed throughout the proceedings. In a press conference later, he reiterated his comments about extending human life.
“Modern means of improving health, medically and surgically, through organ transplants, allow humanity to hope that an active life can be extended even beyond what is possible today,” Putin said.
In the past, the smallest hints of infirmity have stirred debate, as when Xi was seen walking with a slight limp during a 2019 trip to Europe. Xi has cut the number of foreign trips he takes in recent years, but maintains a robust schedule of travel around China.
Whether Xi designates an heir apparent could be the biggest question for China’s next Communist Party congress in 2027. Complicating the picture are Xi’s continuous purges of officials, at times targeting his own protégés. The prospect that many of his closest allies might retire at the congress could intensify jockeying to succeed him, political analysts say.
Rumors have also often circulated about Putin’s health, such as when video footage showed his hand shaking, his odd posture while seated or a twitch in his leg.
Kim may be the youngest of the trio, but he still has health challenges. He is a smoker with a family history of cardiovascular illness—his father and grandfather died of heart attacks, according to North Korea’s state media. South Korea’s spy agency has described him as obese and weighing more than 300 pounds, with symptoms of high blood pressure and diabetes.
North Korea’s dynastic rule is founded on direct lineage to Kim’s grandfather, Kim Il Sung. High-profile appearances of Kim Jong Un’s young daughter, including in Beijing this week, have stirred speculation that he is grooming her to succeed him.
North Korea’s state media very rarely reports that the country’s dictators are ill, portraying them as eternally strong and capable. Any signs of Kim’s vulnerability could trigger a power struggle.
While in Beijing this week, Kim’s aides appeared to take extraordinary measures to avoid leaving any biological clues, including wiping his chair down after he met with Putin, according to Russian video footage.
The Russian president, for his part, has long sought to portray an image of masculine virility, making appearances shirtless on horseback, playing hockey and hiking in Siberia.
The Kremlin has sought to deflect any rumors of ill health, as well as any parallels made in Russian media between Putin’s long reign and the gerontocracy of the late Soviet Union.
Putin has made a secret of any plans he might have for how to eventually transfer a grip on power that extends over the country’s sprawling security services, which control nearly all aspects of life in wartime Russia.
The personal aspect of Putin’s power has left Kremlin courtiers fearing a power vacuum—similar to the one left following Stalin’s death—if the leader, without warning, were to die.
Putin and Xi have developed visibly warm relations through years in power and scores of in-person meetings. Throughout the procession of Chinese troops and weaponry on Wednesday, the two leaders could be seen chatting at length. On occasion, Kim chimed in as well.
It was a grouping that could complicate U.S. policy for years—possibly many years —to come.
Write to Brian Spegele at Brian.Spegele@wsj.com, Dasl Yoon at dasl.yoon@wsj.com and Thomas Grove at thomas.grove@wsj.com
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