Tricky last G20 summit for Obama

From the moment Barack Obama touched down in China, his last G20 summit seemed likely to be a tricky one.

A kerfuffle over aircraft stairs -- or lack of them -- and overzealous Chinese apparatchiks drowned out Obama's efforts to laud his "pivot" to Asia and a deal between Beijing and Washington to jointly ratify a major climate accord.

By the end of Obama's three days in Hangzhou, he would have to contend with yet more inconclusive talks on Syria, prickly Turkish allies, a mouthy Filipino ally and attention-seeking North Koreans firing off a battery of ballistic missiles.

Obama's first full day in China started with a charm offensive aimed at elevating Britain's new Prime Minister Theresa May. But the meeting provided nothing special.

Obama's next task was to mend fences with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who since a July coup, has worried the White House by repeatedly stirring up anti-US sentiment.

Meeting face-to-face for the first time since the attempted putsch, Obama went out of his way to praise the Turkish leader. He also offered reassurances that Erdogan's Pennsylvania-based opponent Fethullah Gulen would be extradited if he did have hand in the coup plot.

But the warm words were not enough to solve a rift between Washington and Ankara about the YPG, a Syrian-Kurdish group that Obama has backed and Erdogan has bombed.

Obama may be willing to extradite Gulen, if there is enough evidence, he is perhaps less likely to ostracise the YPG.

Obama's problems with US allies did not end there.

On the eve of a planned meeting with Rodrigo Duterte, the Philippine President's description of Obama as a "son of a *****" forced the US president to call their appointment into question.

That would be a relief for Filipino officials nervous about what their unscripted and impolitic leader might say behind closed doors.

During Obama's time in China, US foes proved a little more reliable. North Korea's decision to fire three ballistic missiles off its east coast, was just the latest in a series of provocations.

And his meeting with Vladimir Putin, Obama pushed for a deal on Syria. But the body language suggested anything but friendship.

Despite claims of firm and productive talks about ending the civil war and focussing their military assets against IS, nothing concrete came out.

But it was widely expected that a deal to stop the raging war would be signed in China. It was not to be.