John Key’s journey abroad have offered up some of the great examples of diplomatic photography in the history of just about ever.

His latest trip, to China, is already promising much to enjoy, especially, as we’ve come to expect, from the social media accounts of the man himself.

I’ll update this post as the adventure continues, but here are the pick of the pics so far.

While NZ journalists have complained of the Twitter ban in China, John Key has his virtual private network ducks in a row, and tweeted this on landing:

Sometimes it’s good to get away, know what I mean, Johnny, whispers Julia Gillard as she moves in for the bear hug (pic: Audrey Young, NZH):

And this from 3 News’s Patrick Gower, as tweeted by a colleague. We’ve almost got the makings of one of those flip-books.

One of these men appears to be straining to remember the other man’s name:

Again the Mexican president proves more adept in the photography stakes:

John Key is a poor man:

The NZ prime minister accepts a late Easter treat from President Xi:

Here’s China’s Global Times report, drawn from the Xinhua news agency.

Pita Sharples (yes, that is him) is attempting to perform a Jedi mind trick on that vase, but it’s gone all wrong and instead a Chinese woman’s head has sprouted from John Key’s shoulder. Note also the enlightening thoughts from the commenters on Facebook.

It’s all about pizza. Here’s Key:

And not to be outdone, here’s a chilling image of Key’s wingman and fellow pizza lover Steven Joyce, who’s also in China, but in a cap:

Maori Tse-Tung? This is remarkable:

And here’s Steven Joyce again, doing it the local way – although doesn’t his imaginary friend, to his right, have tired eyes.