U.S. President Donald Trump is scheduled to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Shenzhen on November 19 for talks on reducing nuclear weapons. The White House announced the planned meeting, which would be the first gathering of its kind if it goes ahead as scheduled.
White House spokesperson Olivia Wales said Trump believes the spread of nuclear weapons is dangerous and will discuss reducing them with the two leaders, according to DW. The meeting is expected to take place on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum.
A senior U.S. official said Washington does not expect the talks to produce an agreement. The official also said Trump would raise the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran, but was not expected to discuss Ukraine.
China has resisted trilateral nuclear negotiations
Beijing has previously argued that the United States and Russia, which have larger nuclear arsenals, should negotiate directly. In October, China’s Foreign Ministry said it was not fair, reasonable or realistic to ask China to join trilateral disarmament negotiations at this stage.
Chinese state media have described Xi’s planned discussions at the APEC summit as bilateral and have not referred to a three-way meeting. The White House announcement therefore sets out Washington’s plan, but does not indicate that China has agreed to enter nuclear arms negotiations.
The proposed talks come after the U.S.-Russia New START treaty expired in February, removing major limits on the two countries’ nuclear arsenals. The Associated Press described the planned meeting as unprecedented among the three leaders.