By Frank Fang
President Donald Trump said he expects to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping in China next week.
Speaking to reporters before flying back to Washington from Florida, Trump said he would travel to China for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders’ summit, set to take place in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen from Nov. 18 to Nov. 19.
“One of the meetings, I think, will be with President Putin and President Xi, and that‘ll be interesting. We’re talking a lot of things, including denuclearization, but we’ll be talking a lot of things. We’re trying to end the war in Iran,” Trump said.
Speculation had grown about a possible trilateral summit between Trump, Xi, and Putin.
In October, Trump said he was open to talks with his counterparts from Moscow and Beijing.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Nov. 3 that discussions were underway to prepare a trilateral meeting.
On Nov.4, Mao Ning, a spokesperson for the Chinese foreign ministry, said during a daily briefing that China “is in communication with relevant parties regarding a meeting between the three heads of state.”
It remains unclear whether denuclearization will be on the agenda if the three leaders meet, given Beijing’s long reluctance to engage on the issue.
Trump and Xi met in Washington in September. After their meeting, the White House said in a fact sheet that Trump “advocated for trilateral arms control negotiations between the United States, Russia, and China.” However, the Chinese readout of the meeting made no such reference.
In mid-October, Trump told Newsmax that Washington was holding talks with Russia and China on denuclearization.
“The whole thing is a shame, because I’d love to denuclearize if possible, but we’re actually talking to Russia about that, and we’re talking to China about that denuclearization,” Trump told the outlet.
Asked about the remarks at a daily briefing on Oct. 16, Mao responded that it was “neither fair, reasonable nor realistic to ask China to join the so-called trilateral nuclear disarmament negotiations at this stage.”
In its 2025 report on Chinese military development, the Pentagon noted that the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) continued to expand its nuclear arsenal on a massive scale.
“China’s stockpile of nuclear warheads remained in the low 600s through 2024, reflecting a slower rate of production when compared to previous years. Despite this slowdown, the PLA has continued its massive nuclear expansion,” the report states.
“While this report assessed in 2020 that China’s nuclear warhead would double from a stockpile of the low 200s over the next decade, the PLA remains on track to have over 1,000 warheads by 2030.”
Trump’s trip to Shenzhen will be his second visit to China this year, following his May summit with Xi in Beijing.
China’s political prisoners came up during both that meeting and their September talks in Washington, according to Trump.
After the May summit, Trump secured the release of Pastor Ezra Jin Mingri, leader of a prominent underground church in China, who reunited with his family in the United States in July.
After the September summit, Trump told reporters he had also raised the cases of Hong Kong publisher Jimmy Lai and American scholar Min Zin with Xi.
Earlier this month, Freedom House led a joint statement with 40 human rights organizations urging Trump to raise the case of Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong and press for his release in upcoming bilateral meetings with Xi, including the APEC summit and the Group of 20 leaders’ summit in Miami in December.
Wong, a former student leader of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement, was sentenced to 10 years in prison in Hong Kong on Nov. 5 under the Beijing-imposed national security law.
Wong’s sentence drew international criticism, as 10 countries, including the United States, called for an end to “all unjust prosecutions” under the law.
Reuters contributed to this report.
