Trump, Putin and Xi ‘could hold first ever trilateral meeting this month’ - The Independent
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Donald Trump, Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin are actively preparing for a possible meeting when they attend a summit in China later this month, according to a report.
Insiders told the Financial Times that US, Chinese and Russian officials have been holding serious talks about a trilateral summit when the heads of state travel to Shenzhen for the Apec summit on economic cooperation.
It would be the first such conference between all three leaders, coming as Trump tries to thaw frosty relations with the authoritarian leaders in Beijing and Moscow. A three-way meeting would raise alarm from Europe to Asia over private deals weakening Washington’s other alliances.
Addressing talk of a trilateral summit, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Tuesday: “There is a general understanding among the participants in the potential meeting that it would be appropriate and highly useful.”
Trump indicated in October that he would be open to three-way talks on arms control with Xi and Putin, adding that they could talk “about other things like trade, too”.
“We would have it to talk about nuclear weapons and denuclearisation,” he told reporters on October 19. “If president Xi wants to have it, I’d have it.”
Russia has the most stored nuclear warheads, followed by the United States and China, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
The White House has for weeks been weighing up a possible meeting between the leaders focused on denuclearisation on the sidelines of the Apec summit, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters last month.
And Putin had pitched using such a meeting to negotiate an end to the four-year-old conflict in Ukraine in a manner that would favour Moscow, according to the Wall Street Journal, which cited people familiar with the discussions.
Still it remained unclear what would be on the agenda if talks were to go ahead. German president Frank-Walter Steinmeier said on Sunday that Xi seemed confused when asked about a possible trilateral summit when they met in China last week, the FT reported.
Another source told the newspaper that Moscow did not expect substantive talks on Ukraine during the November 18-19 summit in Shenzhen, anticipating that China does not want to take a leading role in mediation.
The source said Moscow believes Beijing only wants to take credit once a peace settlement is already in sight. And the Kremlin has also signalled in recent days that Europe should be included in any talks on a peace settlement in Ukraine.
Putin last month suggested a meeting with Trump in China as he welcomed US special envoy Steve Witkoff at talks in St Petersburg. According to state TV, the Russian president also offered to talk about restoring economic cooperation between Moscow and Washington.
Trump has moved to warm ties with Putin, announcing in October a diesel-fuel deal and signing an order waiving key sanctions on Moscow. The US president has also sought stable relations with China’s Xi, who in turn has nurtured close ties with Putin.
Trump has already agreed to attend the APEC summit in Shenzhen, marking his second trip to China this year and his third visit with Xi over the same period. China, Russia and the United States are all members of APEC.
