escalation. and that's the concern the chinese and the russians are both expressing. and they're calling for dialogue and diplomacy to try to bring an end to this escalating crisis. >> so in terms of what was on the long-term agenda for this meeting, they're talking about deepening ties, right? that's based on trade deals. >> yeah, absolutely. i mean, there has been a long running process, which has been accelerating since 2014 really when the west imposed sanctions on russia for its actions in crimea and eastern ukraine. a long running process of closening relations between russia and china. they have signed hundreds of billions of dollars worth of trade deals, particularly on the energy sector. on this occasion they're going to be signing $10 billion worth of trade deals as well. this is an increasingly close commercial relationship. it's also increasingly close military and diplomatic issue as