Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping will hold the first-ever three-way meeting between the leaders of the United States, Russia and China at a summit in Shenzhen next week, the White House has announced.
The meeting, scheduled for Thursday on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in southern China, is expected to focus on nuclear weapons reduction and the ongoing conflict involving Iran.
White House spokeswoman Olivia Wales disclosed the planned meeting on Friday, saying Trump believes the proliferation of nuclear weapons poses a serious global threat.
“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 also confirmed that Trump intends to raise the Iran conflict during the discussions with Putin and Chinese President Xi.
However, the war in Ukraine is not expected to feature at the trilateral meeting, as Washington maintains separate negotiations with Kyiv and Moscow aimed at ending the conflict.
The official explained that China was not directly involved in the ongoing negotiations, making the trilateral platform unsuitable for discussing the Ukraine war.
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The planned meeting has drawn comparisons with the 1945 Yalta Summit, where the leaders of the United States, Britain and the Soviet Union discussed the post-World War II settlement and territorial arrangements in Europe.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has expressed concern that the Shenzhen meeting could lead to a similar redistribution of global influence among major powers.
Meanwhile, Trump is also scheduled to hold a separate bilateral meeting and working lunch with Xi Jinping, marking their fourth meeting since the US president returned to power last year.
However, no separate one-on-one meeting with Putin is currently scheduled.
The White House officials also dismissed suggestions that the controversy surrounding Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang would feature in Trump’s discussions with Xi.
They further ruled out negotiations over US export controls on sensitive semiconductor technology, describing the restrictions as national security matters.
Tesla and SpaceX chief executive Elon Musk will accompany Trump on his China trip but will not participate in the meeting with Xi and Putin.
Trump is expected to leave Washington on Monday and arrive in the Philippines on Tuesday for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit before travelling to Shenzhen.
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