The leaders of the United States, China and Russia plan to meet Thursday on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Shenzhen, according to the White House.
By Hermes Vector
The leaders of the United States, China and Russia plan to meet Thursday on the sidelines of next week’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in China’s tech hub of Shenzhen, according to the White House. The gathering would bring together the heads of the world’s biggest nuclear powers.
Plans for the three-way summit with Donald Trump, Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin were confirmed Friday by the White House. The meeting is intended to serve as the “beginning of hopefully a conversation” on nuclear disarmament “that can be productive going forward,” said a senior U.S. official who briefed reporters on the condition of anonymity. The official added that no agreements are expected to be announced.
The U.S. president has insisted that such a meeting would provide an opportunity for the three leaders to discuss the U.S. war with Iran and his goal of reaching a three-way agreement on their nuclear arms stockpiles. Trump does plan on discussing the Iran war with Xi and Putin, but will steer away from discussing Ukraine, according to the senior U.S. official.
The last nuclear arms pact between Russia and the United States expired in February, removing caps on the two largest atomic arsenals for the first time in more than a half-century. When that treaty — known as New START — expired, Trump rejected a call by Russia to extend the two-country deal for another year and called for “a new, improved and modernized” deal that includes China.
Beijing’s arsenal of more than 600 warheads, according to Pentagon estimates, is far smaller than inventories held by the U.S. and Russia, each estimated to have more than 5,000 warheads. With U.S. and Russian arsenals dwarfing its stockpile, China has shown little interest in developing a nuclear pact.
The trilateral meeting could overshadow the APEC summit, which is bringing 21 economies to Shenzhen. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has expressed concern that the trilateral meeting could serve as a platform for discussing a possible Ukraine deal behind Kyiv’s back. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has dismissed comparisons to the 1945 Yalta Conference, saying any potential agreements reached in Shenzhen can’t be enforced on others.
Sources
This article was drafted with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. Company claims are reported as claims. Cover image is AI-generated.
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