Talks underway for Trump-Xi-Putin meeting, China says

Beijing is in discussions with Moscow and Washington to prepare a potential meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and his U.S. and Russian counterparts Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, a spokesperson for the Chinese foreign ministry said Wednesday.

The trilateral meeting would take place during the APEC summit hosted by China in Shenzhen on Nov. 18-19, which the three leaders are expected to attend.

“China is in communication with relevant parties regarding a meeting between the three heads of state,” foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told reporters in a press briefing.

Mao did not elaborate on which topics the leaders would cover if they convene, amid fears in Europe that talks on ending the war in Ukraine could take place without Kyiv or European capitals at the table.

Trump last month indicated interest in discussing “denuclearization” in a trilateral meeting, but “not so much” Ukraine. China hasn’t commented on what would be on the agenda, although German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said Xi rejected the idea of discussing Ukraine in that format when both leaders spoke last week. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that such a meeting would be “appropriate and very useful,” but did not elaborate on a potential agenda.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressed concern over a potential trilateral meeting, “I really don’t want this to be a ‘Yalta – 2, 3, 4,’ when there is a redistribution of influence,” Zelenskyy told reporters in late October, referring to the 1945 talks between the U.S., British and Soviet leaders to discuss the future of postwar Germany.

“Europe must and wants to play a role in this process,” German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Tuesday alongside Zelenskyy in Berlin. “Key elements of a peaceful solution — whether regarding sanctions or the security architecture — can only be resolved with us Europeans. And everyone involved knows that very well.”