White House confirmed US-Russia-China summit: war in Ukraine is not expected to be discussed, no separate Trump-Putin meeting is planned
Kyiv • UNN
Trump, Putin and Xi will meet at the APEC summit on November 19. The war in Ukraine is not expected to be discussed; instead, they will talk about nuclear weapons and Iran.
U.S. President Donald Trump, Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping will hold the first trilateral meeting between the leaders of the United States, Russia and China at a summit in Shenzhen next week, the White House confirmed on Friday, November 13. Trump is not expected to discuss Russia’s war in Ukraine. Nor does Trump have a separate one-on-one meeting with Putin scheduled. UNN reports this with reference to AFP.
Details
Trump wants to discuss reducing nuclear arsenals at trilateral talks on Thursday (November 19), and also intends to raise the issue of the war with Iran, but he is not expected to discuss Russia’s war in Ukraine,
The three leaders will meet on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in the southern Chinese city, White House spokesperson Olivia Wiles told reporters.
"The president has made it clear that, among other topics, he will discuss reducing nuclear weapons around the world. This proliferation, in President Trump’s view, is very dangerous," Wiles said.
One of the main conflicts dominating Trump’s second term as president will be present, but another will not, U.S. officials said.
"I think the president does indeed intend to discuss Iran at the trilateral meeting with Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin," a senior U.S. official, who wished to remain anonymous, told reporters during a conference call.
Washington has a "completely separate track" of negotiations with Kyiv and Moscow aimed at ending the war in Ukraine, the official added, referring to talks that U.S. envoys had held with Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in recent days.
"China is not really part of this track, so discussing Ukraine there seems inappropriate," the official added.
Zelenskyy warns that the meeting in Shenzhen could be a Yalta-style "redistribution of spheres of influence" for the 21st century.
At the 1945 Yalta Summit in the Soviet Union, then-U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin laid out the postwar settlement and new territorial borders in Europe.
"The Trump administration has sought to restore U.S. dominance over the ‘Western Hemisphere,’ including by capturing Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in January, but dividing the world among great powers, as happened in 1945, may not guarantee security," the publication notes.
On Thursday, November 19, Trump is also reportedly scheduled to hold a bilateral working lunch and meeting with China’s leader—their fourth meeting since the U.S. president returned to power last year.
But Trump does not have a separate one-on-one meeting with Putin scheduled
Among other topics, the resignation of Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang over an affair with an alleged Chinese spy is not expected to be raised at Trump’s meetings with Xi, officials said.
"The situation with Nvidia really should have no impact on the trip," a second senior U.S. official said.
The United States also did not plan to discuss export controls on sensitive chip technology, which were at the heart of the Nvidia scandal.
"We are not negotiating U.S. export controls. These are national security issues that we are developing within the administration... and we do not expect this to feature at all in any of our conversations with the Chinese while we are there," the second official said.
According to officials, Tesla and SpaceX chief Elon Musk will accompany Trump on his trip to China but will not take part in the meeting with Xi and Putin.
Trump will leave Washington on Monday, November 16, and arrive in the Philippines on Tuesday, November 17, for the summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), before heading to Shenzhen.
Ukraine’s Position
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha had previously commented on the possibility of such a summit. "A trilateral meeting of the leaders of Ukraine, the United States, and Russia could help end the war more quickly. A trilateral meeting of the leaders of Russia, China, and the United States would produce the opposite result: it would encourage Putin to continue this war. Inviting Putin to such a meeting would only fuel his megalomania and give him weight he does not deserve," Sybiha noted.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy also responded to reports about an offer by Kremlin head Vladimir Putin to hold a summit with US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.
"I would like to understand this in order to avoid further surprises. The question is not only whether they will meet with us or without us: unfortunately, Putin’s gradual emergence from isolation has already begun. This will not be the first step. However, if Ukraine is on the agenda, we would like Ukraine to be consulted. I cannot comment on the rest: I do not know what they will discuss," Zelenskyy said in response to a question about the fact that "Putin is proposing a meeting with Trump and Xi without Ukraine," and whether he is worried "that they will decide your future without you."