Shenzhen, Nov 7:
Beijing has confirmed ongoing diplomatic consultations to explore a high-stakes trilateral meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping, US President Donald Trump, and Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders’ summit in Shenzhen.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning confirmed that Beijing is “in communication with relevant parties regarding a meeting between the three heads of state”. If convened, the summit would mark an unprecedented diplomatic gathering among the three global powers amidst deep divisions over bilateral trade, security doctrines, and the war in Ukraine.
While the proposed meeting offers significant diplomatic visibility for Moscow to address the Ukraine deadlock, geopolitical analysts caution that it may yield more symbolic optics than substantive policy breakthroughs. Trump is slated to visit China for his third engagement with Xi this year, ahead of the January expiration of the bilateral trade truce, even as US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng continue fraught negotiations over critical mineral exports and agricultural purchases.