China confirms contacts with US and Russia over possible Trump-Putin-Xi summit
China is in contact with the United States and Russia over a possible meeting between Presidents Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Shenzhen later this month, Bloomberg reported on November 4.
"China is maintaining communication with relevant parties regarding a potential meeting among Chinese, Russian and US leaders," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said at a briefing in Beijing.
Both Trump and Putin have previously expressed interest in holding talks with Xi during the summit, scheduled for November 18–19. However, no meeting has been formally confirmed.
According to Bloomberg, such a gathering would be an unprecedented trilateral summit between the three nuclear powers and could provide Russia with an opportunity to ease its international isolation following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The Wall Street Journal previously reported that Putin had proposed a meeting with Trump and Xi to discuss ending the war in Ukraine on terms favorable to Moscow.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio later confirmed that the possibility of a trilateral meeting had been discussed, but said no final decision had been made.
Mao did not specify whether Russia's war against Ukraine would be on the agenda of the proposed summit.
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