Lame-duck President Biden was relegated to the back corner of the APEC conference’s annual family photo — as Chinese President Xi Jinping was honored with a front-and-center position next to the host country’s President Dina Boluarte.
The petty humiliation of America’s leader comes ahead of his Saturday afternoon meeting with Xi — who has been feted with relative pomp throughout the event as thanks for his country’s financing of a large new port on Peru’s coast.
Biden, 81, whose increasing irrelevance domestically and on the world stage has earned him the moniker of “super lame duck,” arrived last to the family photo before taking his pre-decided position between the fellow back-row leaders of Thailand and Vietnam.
The order of world leaders was alphabetical by country — though a review of past APEC family photos shows national positions aren’t fixed, with then-President Donald Trump taking a center spot in a pair of family photos in 2017 for the APEC summit in Vietnam, the only such gathering he attended.
The president-elect, who is expected to readopt his forceful “America first” posture, was known during his term of office not to take even symbolic snubs — in one instance pushing his way to the front of a world leaders scrum before the press to ensure his and America’s spot in the fore.
Biden’s trip has featured several small humiliations so far — including a grandiose welcome for Xi and a noticeably lighter official greeting for the commander in chief when Air Force One arrived in South America Thursday for the 21-nation summit of the Pacific rim countries.
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