American President Donald Trump intends to discuss the settlement of the Ukrainian issue with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the APEC summit, relying on his influence.
„Yes, I think he can have a great influence on Putin. I think he can have a great influence on a lot of people. Look, he's a respected man. He's a very strong leader of a very big country. And we'll certainly talk about Russia, Ukraine“, Trump said.
Trump said that during his upcoming meeting with the Chinese president, he expects to reach an agreement on all bilateral issues, including the reduction of nuclear weapons. „I think we'll agree on everything. I think we'll agree on soybeans and farmers. I think we'll agree, maybe even on nuclear issues," the American leader said.
“We have the largest number of nuclear weapons. Russia is second. China is actually far behind us as third, but in four or five years they will catch up with us. And we are already talking about de-escalation. I think we will probably include China in that“, Trump concluded.
He did not confirm his intention to put pressure on Xi Jinping, trying to convince Beijing to stop buying Russian oil. “China is a little different“, Trump said.
At the same time, he said that Russia and China “by nature cannot be friendly“ to each other and that the rapprochement between Moscow and Beijing was facilitated by the policies of previous US presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden. "They are closer now than they would normally be," Trump said. He himself said he had no objection to Moscow and Beijing maintaining "friendly relations" with each other.