For summit watchers who feverishly analyse photo ops and body-language cues for clues about world leaders, this season of global summitry is something of a gift. At the Apec meeting in Beijing, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Chinese President Xi Jinping’s awkward rapprochement was quickly overshadowed by Xi and US President Barack Obama’s bombastic climate change announcement. But the true talking point was an incident between Russia’s leopard-petting, whale-shooting president, Vladimir Putin, and the Chinese first lady, who found herself at the receiving end of Putin’s hitherto unsuspected chivalrous streak. Even as Chinese censors went into overdrive to scrub the image of Putin draping his coat on Peng Liyuan off the internet, however, the action shifted to Brisbane, where Putin had a cuddly encounter with the real stars of the G-20 — the koalas.
The UN climate change conference in Peru begins in just under a fortnight. Who knows what delights summiteers will offer while thrashing out agreements on hot air — shots with shaggy llamas overlooking Machu Picchu, perhaps?
