This Article is From Nov 13, 2017

ASEAN 2017: Donald Trump Isn't The Only One Who Messed Up That Handshake

Noticed Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev yet? Take a closer look on the left.

ASEAN 2017: Donald Trump Isn't The Only One Who Messed Up That Handshake

Two world leaders were left confused during the photo op at the ASEAN summit in the Philippines (AFP)

US President Donald Trump had Twitter buzzing after bungling a carefully choreographed photo op at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit in Manila, Philippines on Monday. But while social media zeroed in on Mr Trump for failing to grasp whose hands he was supposed to be holding and breaking a lineup intended to showcase unity, many missed one other world leader who didn't even try particularly hard to get the traditional crossover handshake right. 

Turns out, there was more than one confused world leader at the ASEAN summit photo op. 

Take a closer look at Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev on the left. 
 
asean 2017 handshake trump medvedev afp 650 1

(AFP)


The concept of the traditional crossover handshake for the ASEAN 'family' photo is pretty straightforward. 

Each leader crosses his or her arms and join hands with the world leaders on either side.

And while almost all the politicians on stage managed to reach out and clutch the hands of the person to their left and right, both Mr Trump and Mr Medvedev didn't. 

Initially, Mr 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. Awkward. 
 
handshake chain asean summit manila afp

US President Donald Trump was photographed breaking a lineup intended to showcase unity (AFP)


And while it took more than a few seconds for him to recognise his error, Mr Trump finally made the link between Mr Nguyen and Mr  Duterte.

The Russian PM, on the other hand, simply didn't. 
 
Whether Mr Medvedev's handshake gaffe was deliberate or accidental remains unclear. But pictures show the Russian leader smiling widely with his arms outstretched, despite his faux-pas. Twitter eventually caught on to the goof-up and had a good laugh.
     
Mr Trump's handshakes with world leaders frequently make headlines and Monday's incident at the ASEAN summit brought back memories of previous awkward encounters.Click for more trending news


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