Washington DC: US President Donald Trump is set to participate in a first-ever trilateral meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit in China next week.
The discussions are expected to focus on nuclear disarmament and Iran, senior US officials said, as reported by ABC News. The meeting will mark an unprecedented joint engagement between the leaders of the three major powers. However, US officials have played down expectations of an immediate agreement on nuclear weapons reduction, describing it as an initial conversation.
According to CNN, White House spokesperson Olivia Wales said Trump intended to discuss reducing nuclear weapons globally, calling nuclear proliferation dangerous.
“The President has made it clear that, among other topics, he will discuss the reduction of nuclear weapons in the world. This proliferation, President Trump believes, is very dangerous,” Wales said.
A senior US official said the administration did not expect the trilateral meeting to result in a concrete agreement but viewed it as an opportunity to begin discussions at the highest level.
“We do not expect to get to any kind of agreement. I would characterise this as the entry point, the first conversation, certainly at the leader level, between these countries,” the official said.
Officials added that Trump was expected to raise the issue of Iran with Xi and Putin but did not intend to discuss Russia’s ongoing war with Ukraine during the meeting.
Trump and Xi are scheduled to hold a bilateral meeting and working lunch before the joint engagement with Putin. However, no separate one-on-one meeting between Trump and the Russian President is planned.
The discussions come amid renewed focus on global nuclear security, particularly after the last nuclear arms treaty between the United States and Russia expired in February. China, meanwhile, has been expanding its nuclear arsenal.
Billionaire Elon Musk is also expected to accompany Trump during parts of his China visit, with US officials citing his business interests in the country. However, he is not expected to attend the trilateral meeting, ABC News reported.
Trump will first travel to Manila on Monday for the ASEAN Summit, where he is expected to participate in discussions on Indo-Pacific peace and security and hold bilateral talks with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
He will then travel to Shenzhen, China, for the APEC Summit, where he is scheduled to attend the leaders’ dinner and multilateral meetings before meeting Xi. The trilateral engagement with Xi and Putin is expected to be the final event of Trump’s Asia trip.
