Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and his delegation have gone to China for an official visit from Sept. 19 to 21 at the invitation of Chinese Premier Li Keqiang.

The high-powered visit presents Singapore with an opportunity to boost bilateral ties ahead of the important Party Congress in China on Oct. 18.

Including Li, PM Lee met with four out of seven leaders in China’s highest decision-making body, including top leader Xi Jinping and his key ally Wang Qishan.

On Sept. 19, Minister in the Prime Minister's Office, Chan Chun Sing, posted a photo to his Facebook page, which you can see below.

It was taken while PM Lee was welcomed officially by Li:

As Singaporeans are wont to do, the placement of Chan in the photo sparked off a round of speculation.

Anyone standing in the centre of a photo, they reasoned, had to signify prominence.

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A new photo appears

However, another photograph from a different angle provides another layer of meaning to the situation.

The following photo that was posted by finance minister Heng Swee Keat to his Facebook page has him standing to Chan's left in the photo:

As you can see, during the welcome ceremony, Premier Li and PM Lee walked down the red carpet on their way to greet the Singaporean delegation.

Li approached the delegation from the right-hand side (as you can see from the photo). This means he would meet and greet Heng first, before shaking hands with Chan.

And indeed the photo shows just that, with Heng shaking hands with Li, while Chan looks on.

Similarly, one could argue that because Heng was the first to be introduced to Li, that would mean he is more prominent than Chan.

But sometimes a photo is just a photo.

This pair of photos are a lesson not to read too much into such things.

But maybe we just did.

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