Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping will meet on November 19 in China on the sidelines of the APEC summit, the White House announced. This will be the first trilateral meeting in history between the leaders of the United States, Russia and China.
White House spokeswoman Olivia Wiles specified that the talks would focus on reducing nuclear weapons. “President Trump considers the proliferation of nuclear weapons extremely dangerous,” she said.
Moscow and Beijing have not yet publicly confirmed their agreement to the meeting. The APEC summit is scheduled for November 18 and 19, with the talks between the three leaders planned for the second day.
Washington Does Not Expect a Nuclear Weapons Agreement
A senior Trump administration official told Reuters that the White House does not expect any specific agreements on the issue of nuclear weapons.
“For China, this is a difficult topic, but we believe it is time for Beijing to sit down at the adults’ table and begin a serious conversation about serious issues,” the official said.According to the official, Washington hopes the talks will mark the beginning of a dialogue that could produce results in the future. The official did not indicate that an agreement on controlling or reducing nuclear arsenals was expected at the meeting.
Trump intends to discuss the war with Iran with Putin and Xi Jinping. The Russian-Ukrainian war, however, will not be included on the agenda. “We have had a lot of contact with the Russian side recently, but China is not part of this process, so it would be inappropriate to discuss the issue of Ukraine here,” the Reuters source said.
Differences Over the Format and Agenda
No separate bilateral meeting between Trump and Putin is planned. The American president will be accompanied on his trip to China by SpaceX founder Elon Musk, but Musk is not expected to take part in the talks between the three leaders.
The idea for the trilateral meeting was proposed by Vladimir Putin. According to The Wall Street Journal, the Russian president wants to discuss ending the war in Ukraine on terms favorable to Moscow. The publication also reported disagreements between Washington and Beijing over how the meeting should proceed.
The Chinese side is insisting on a strictly prepared script under which the leaders would read pre-written statements and limit free discussion. The Trump administration prefers a looser format that would allow for a more active exchange of views.
Sources: meduza.io, reuters.com, wsj.com