The Asia-Pacific leaders' meeting went wrong for President Jiang Zemin at the last minute.
The ritual meetings and declaration had been painstakingly choreographed to improve the image of Mr Jiang as a leading statesman. But the rush of events after the US terror attacks meant that even the best-laid plans went astray.
First came the press conference televised live across China in which Mr Jiang fumbled through an answer to an unplanned question about whether he would retire.
Then came the meeting and press conference by US President George W. Bush and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, which provided the biggest headlines of the event.
The display of Mr Putin's new relationship with the United States was a blow. Mr Jiang had invested a great deal of personal prestige in building a 'strategic partnership' with Russia, holding summits with then-leader Boris Yeltsin and Mr Putin and encouraging a 'treaty of friendship'.
The President had argued the special relationship was necessary to counter-balance the power of the US. Russia and China had said they were allies in opposing the National Missile Defence system (NMD) and in fighting separatism in Taiwan, Xinjiang and Chechnya.
