From leader of the pack to supporting act: How leaders line up at summits
A president can be centre stage one day, then shoved to margins the next
A picture is worth a thousand words, the saying goes.
The "family photos" of state leaders attending last week's whirlwind of regional summits certainly offered clues to the power plays behind the scenes and to the hierarchy of nations.
In the space of six days, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) leaders' summit was held in Beijing, the Asean meetings in Myanmar and the Group of 20 summit in Australia.
Experts say that while organisers of the summits usually have a set of loose protocols to follow, the host countries can bend the rules of the "pecking order" to suit their preferences.
So what subtle messages did the line-ups of leaders snapped last week send?
Russian President Vladimir Putin was front row and centre for the group photo at the Apec summit in Beijing. But a few days later, he was shoved to the far right-hand edge of the official G20 photo in Australia.
