Beijing has confirmed for the first time that it is discussing a historic meeting between Xi Jinping, Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, raising the prospect of the three leaders sitting down together later this month. Foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told reporters in Beijing this week that China “is in communication with relevant parties regarding a meeting between the three heads of state.”
The meeting, if it goes ahead, would take place on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Shenzhen on 18 and 19 November. The three leaders have never held a joint meeting before, although they have met in pairs. Trump is already expected to travel to Shenzhen to meet Xi for the third time this year, with a fragile US-China trade truce due to expire in January.
The idea was first raised by Putin, who is reported to have proposed a three-way meeting during a phone call with Trump on 9 October, aiming for an agreement on ending the war in Ukraine on terms favourable to Russia. The Financial Times reported on 3 November that officials from the three countries had been holding secret talks for two weeks about arranging the meeting. Beijing has announced no final decision, and whether Putin attends — and whether a three-way session is formally scheduled — remains unclear.
The leaders would arrive with very different priorities. Trump has said publicly that he would mainly want to discuss nuclear arms control. Putin is focused on the war in Ukraine, without Kyiv at the table. Analysts say Beijing wants the prestige of hosting without taking on substantive commitments on Ukraine, Iran or arms control.
Analysts are sceptical about whether the meeting would produce anything concrete. Danny Russel, a former senior US State Department official now at the Asia Society Policy Institute, said Putin had the most to gain and called the gathering a potential diplomatic coup for Moscow. Others said Russia would probably use the summit to nudge China and the US closer to its positions on Ukraine, while the meeting itself may amount to little more than a carefully choreographed photo opportunity.
For now, Beijing’s confirmation establishes only that discussions are under way, and the account of the talks so far rests largely on Beijing’s own briefing. The format, the agenda and even whether it will be one joint meeting or a series of bilateral talks on the sidelines remain to be decided in the days before leaders gather in Shenzhen.
Sources: Xinhua; AFP; Financial Times; The Guardian.
