There is a concept of the traditional crossover handshake for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) ‘family’ photo. It’s not too complicated. The recent ASEAN summit was held n Manila, Philippines on Monday. However, world’s two most influential leaders messed up the straightforward handshake.
Trump tries hard to do the #ASEAN handshake, while Russia's Medvedev cheats!#ASEANSummit #Manila #Philippines #Duterte
First one was US president Donald Trump who failed to grasp whose hands he was supposed to be holding and breaking a lineup intended to showcase unity.
However, did you notice that there was one another world leader who messed up the handshake in confusion? Take a closer look at Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on the left.
“We very much appreciate the great treatment you’ve given,” said @POTUS re: welcoming ceremonies from Duterte
Looks like Russian Prime Minister Medvedev (2nd from left) has it all figured out!pic.twitter.com/NlPOwd2yrT
The concept is pretty straightforward. Each leader crosses his or her arms and joins hands with the world leaders on either side. While all the other leaders managed to reach out and clutch the hands of the leaders standing on both sides of them, both Mr Trump and Mr Medvedev couldn’t.
Leaders of ASEAN and its Dialogue Partners do the #ASEAN way for their photo op at the opening of 31st #ASEANSummit in #Manila today.
Earlier, Donald Trump used both his hands to clasp the extended fingers of Vietnam’s Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc. That left ASEAN summit host Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte with a spare hand – and broke the line into two parts. Well, this was pretty awkward, because that’s not how handshakes at ASEAN work.
After few seconds, Trump realised the error made by him and he finally made the link between Mr Nguyen and Mr Duterte.
However, Russian Prime Minister couldn’t realise it throughout.
