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US Donald Trump, Xi Jinping, and Vladimir Putin will gather for a trilateral summit in Shenzhen on November 19, according to announcements from the White House and the Kremlin.
The meeting coincides with the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit taking place on Wednesday and Thursday in the southern Chinese city, as orf.at reported. Previously, interactions among the three nuclear-armed powers occurred solely through bilateral talks.
“Putin’s expectations for a trilateral meeting are clear: the Kremlin hopes that Trump and Xi will exert stronger influence on Ukraine,” Andrey Gurkov told the Frankfurter Rundschau.
The proposal was initiated by Putin and later supported by Trump, according to research by the Washington Post cited by DiePresse.com.
The format places Beijing in an uncomfortable position as it weighs its desire for global statesmanship against concerns of being sidelined, DiePresse.com noted.
European Capitals Voice Yalta Concerns
European capitals have voiced anxieties that the meeting could lead to a Yalta 2.0 scenario where major powers carve out spheres of influence without input from Ukraine or the European Union, DiePresse.com reported. Friedrich Merz urged restraint during a summit in Dublin.
“I want to reiterate our message addressed to the United States very clearly: please, no surprises,” Friedrich Merz told journalists, according to Informat.ro.
Merz called on Washington to coordinate all diplomatic efforts with European partners and ensure the interests of Ukraine remain protected. Meanwhile, the Trump administration intends to raise the issue of global nuclear stockpile reductions during the talks, orf.at stated.
China has resisted joining nuclear arms control discussions on the grounds that its arsenal remains significantly smaller than those of Russia and the United States, DiePresse.com reported.
Questions Surrounding the Shenzhen Talks
- Will Ukraine be an official agenda item during the talks?
- How will Beijing manage diplomatic friction over inclusive multilateralism?
- What specific arms control proposals will Washington table?
Representatives from the China Institute for International Studies question whether Ukraine will feature on the agenda, arguing that Kyiv and the EU must be involved in any lasting peace solution, according to Die Presse. Gurkov said that while Russia possesses nuclear parity, its economic influence remains limited compared to the other two powers, as reported by the Frankfurter Rundschau.
“I assume that Trump and Xi will be more concerned with urging Putin to end the war,” Gurkov told the Frankfurter Rundschau, adding that Putin aims to secure terms favorable to Moscow.
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