“Earlier, people rarely lived to 70, but these days at 70 you are still a child,” Xi told Putin according to the translator in Russian.
“With the development of biotechnology, human organs can be continuously transplanted and people can live younger and younger, and even achieve immortality,” Putin replied, according to translation in Mandarin.
“Predictions are, this century, there is also a chance of living to 150,” Xi responded.
Xi hosted 26 world leaders, including Putin and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un in Beijing on Wednesday, for a huge military parade which commemorated 80 years since Japan’s surrender in World War II and China’s victory over occupying forces.
The event marked the first time the three rulers — Xi, Putin and Kim — have appeared together in public.
China has a long history of organ harvesting from executed prisoners, which was officially banned in 2015. That hasn’t curtailed the practice, however, with the government turning to targeted minorities for organs, including the Uyghers facing a genocide in the western part of the country.
Putin and Xi are both 72.
Last year, The Times of London reported that Kremlin officials had directed scientists to fast-track anti-aging research, focusing on cellular degeneration, cognitive decline and strengthening the immune system.