Lame-duck President Biden was relegated to the back corner of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) conference’s annual family photo in Peru, while Chinese President Xi Jinping enjoyed a prominent front-and-center position next to the host country’s President Dina Boluarte.
This slight against America’s leader occurred ahead of Biden’s Saturday afternoon meeting with Xi, who had been given significant attention throughout the APEC event in Lima, partly due to China’s financial backing of a large new port on Peru’s coast.
Biden, often referred to as a “super lame duck” due to his diminishing influence both domestically and internationally, arrived last to the photo session and was placed between the leaders of Thailand and Vietnam in the back row.
The order of world leaders in the APEC family photo is generally alphabetical by country, though a review of past photos reveals that the positioning isn’t always fixed. For example, during the 2017 APEC summit in Vietnam, then-President Donald Trump was placed in a prominent center spot for two group photos — once in the front row and once in the back row — during the only APEC summit he attended, the New York Post reported.
“This year, New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Papua New Guinea’s Deputy Prime Minister John Rosso stood out of order, maneuvering behind Boluarte and Xi,” the report said.
Biden’s position was a clear indication that world leaders don’t take him “seriously anymore ever since Nancy Pelosi threw him out,” Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-NY) told The Post.
“They probably should have invited President-elect [Donald] Trump down. I’m sure he would’ve been in the center of the photo with Xi Jinping,” she noted further.
Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-New Jersey) added: “There are lame ducks and then there are the lamest of lame ducks. Biden has been a lame duck since he was elected. This photo is a metaphor for his presidency. A picture is worth a thousand words — and this picture says it all.”
Other leaders who secured front-row spots included Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, and Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim.