BEIJING — China said on Wednesday it was in communication with relevant parties about a possible trilateral summit between Chinese, Russian and U.S. leaders later this month, state media reported.
"China is maintaining communication with relevant parties on a meeting of the heads of state of China, Russia and the United States," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told reporters in Beijing. She was responding to a Financial Times report that officials from the three countries were coordinating arrangements for such a meeting on the sidelines of the scheduled Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders' summit in Shenzhen on November 18-19.
Chinese President Xi Jinping will host leaders and representatives from APEC's 21 member economies, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump. Although Trump, Putin and Xi have participated in separate meetings, the three presidents have not previously convened for a joint diplomatic discussion.
"Work is under way on organizing such a meeting," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the Financial Times. Peskov later said arrangements for a Putin-Trump-Xi meeting at the APEC summit could be finalized soon, adding: "Of course, our Chinese friends, as hosts, serve as the main organizing force here."
Putin proposed such a meeting in an October 9 phone call with Trump, wanting to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine, according to the Wall Street Journal. Trump said on October 19 that he was open to it. It is unclear whether a possible meeting would address the war in Ukraine, but it comes amid increasingly intensive efforts to reach a peace settlement.
Trump is scheduled to participate in the Shenzhen gathering, which would bring him to China for the second time in 2026. He is also expected to meet Xi at least twice more before the end of the year — at the APEC summit in China this month and at the G20 in Florida in December.
