Russia’s Kremlin said Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping, and U.S. President Donald Trump may hold a trilateral meeting during the upcoming APEC summit scheduled for November 18-19 in Shenzhen, China [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9].
Kremlin aide and spokesman Yuri Ushakov confirmed on September 1 in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, that the three leaders may meet at the APEC summit after discussions of the idea. “这个问题讨论过，是的。...如果届时情况如所说的那样，那么三人将能够举行会晤,” Ushakov said [1]. He added the topic has been discussed and if conditions remain as expected, the leaders will have the opportunity to meet [2, 8].
Putin and Xi recently met during the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Bishkek on August 31 to September 1, where Russian officials first spoke of the trilateral meeting possibility [1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 9].
Russian officials anticipate all three leaders will attend the APEC summit [1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9], but the White House has not confirmed Trump’s attendance or participation in any trilateral meeting. White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said, “目前我們沒有任何關於川普總統出席APEC的公告,” meaning the U.S. has made no announcement on Trump attending APEC [3, 7, 8].
Officials emphasize the trilateral meeting remains in discussion and no formal arrangements on format, agenda, or timing have been finalized [7, 9]. The summit will bring together Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders November 18-19 in Shenzhen [2, 6, 7, 8, 9].
The next concrete development will be the APEC Leaders’ Summit itself, where the possibility of a Putin-Xi-Trump trilateral meeting could be realized or further clarified.
