The leaders of the United States, China and Russia have never sat down together as a trio, but that could change in Shenzhen later this month. Donald Trump told reporters on Sunday that one of the meetings he expects at the APEC gathering of Pacific Rim economies, which the southern Chinese tech hub hosts on the 18th and 19th, will bring him together with Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin.
Trump said the talks would cover “a lot of things”, denuclearization among them, and tied the idea to the confrontation with Tehran. “We’re trying to end the war in Iran,” he added.
Beijing chose its words carefully on Monday. Guo Jiakun, speaking for the foreign ministry, would say no more than that Beijing was talking to everyone involved, which stopped well short of a denial. Moscow has been more forthcoming: in early November the Financial Times quoted Peskov, Putin’s spokesman, as saying preparations for a three-way session had started, and presidential aide Yury Ushakov has said the topic came up when US envoy Steve Witkoff visited St. Petersburg in October.
A separate Trump–Xi meeting is already on the schedule. It would be their third this year, after Trump travelled to the Chinese capital in May and Xi came to Washington in September, and a fourth encounter is pencilled in for the G20 gathering in Miami in December.
Analysts in China are playing the prospect down. In the reading of Su Liuqiang, a Shanghai-based specialist on America, a loose conversation on the margins is likelier than any formal three-way session. In his view Russia is the keenest of the three, while strong anti-Russia feeling in Washington and among European allies makes any deal that bypasses Kyiv politically toxic. The three capitals also want different things: Moscow a Ukraine ceasefire, Washington progress on non-proliferation, Beijing a balance between all sides. If anything concrete emerges, Su expects it to involve steadier global energy supplies.
