July 08, 2017, 08:17 PM 
It was the handshake and meeting that Singaporeans have been waiting for.
Did our leaders look at the leaders of big nations "in the eye and told them we stood firm", like what former Foreign Minister K Shanmugam said?
Or did we lose out even in the little things that do not really matter?
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong held his first bilateral meeting with US President Donald J Trump on Saturday (July 8), at the sidelines of the G-20 Leaders' Summit in Hamburg.
As Trump shook PM Lee's hands, he said,
"Prime Minister of Singapore, we are very close in relationship. We are very close. And we expect to do some excellent things together in many ways. We have a very big relationship now and it will probably get much bigger. Thank you very much."
PM Lee replied,
"Thank you Mr President. We have many things going on in the US and we hope to do more."
Analysing the handshake - who won?
From the initial looks of it, Trump put the squeeze on PM Lee with a bone-crunching handshake as they posed for photos.
President Trump (R) and PM Lee shake hands during a meeting on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Hamburg, Germany, July 8, 2017 (Photo by Saul Loeb, AFP, Getty Images)
PM Lee raised his arm, with Trump offering his hand palm-up.
Here is a GIF image of the handshake, indicating that Trump was trying to pull PM Lee closer to him.
Source: CNA FB video.
But PM Lee was determined to hold firm his ground -- he did not move an inch (phew).
Below is Channel NewsAsia's clip of the handshake:
As both leaned forward, it looks like a draw, with points awarded to the two sparring partners if it is a boxing match.
Some folks may think that Lee's "upper-hand" shake -- whose palm is facing slightly down for the shake -- is a trap by Trump where Lee has no choice but to put his hand into Trump's clamp.
But an earlier photo of a handshake between PM Lee and former President Barack Obama reveals that it is PM Lee's habit to do this "upper-hand" thing:
US President Barack Obama (R) shakes hands with PM Lee before a bilateral meeting in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, DC, on April 2, 2013. Photo by Jewel Samad, AFP/Getty Images
Anyway, PM Lee definitely did much better than Japanese PM Shinzo Abe:
Photo by The Asahi Shimbun via Getty Images
Source: CNN Youtube.
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Related article:
PM Lee's away at G20 Leaders’ Summit, will meet Donald Trump
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