Perhaps, like Churchill, there was a double called diplomao that was used for such occasions. Here is a picture: https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/06/11/some-summ

Perhaps, like Churchill, there was a double called diplomao that was used for such occasions. Here is a picture: https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/06/11/some-summits-soar-some-plunge/ https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/06/11/some-summits-soar-some-... Of course that wouldn't explain why the meeting happened after Mao's death, so perhaps the diplomao knocked off the real Mao, which would account for why we've never seen both Mao and diplomao together in the same photo. Or perhaps the GP is wrong and Mao was taken prisoner by his diplomao, and it was Kissinger that, in a courageous act of diplomaocide, knocked off the diplomao and met with Mao himself, thus earning Mao's loyalty and opening up China to the West. We may never know.