US balks at China’s scripted Trump-Xi-Putin summit plan

Washington and Beijing disagree over how a proposed meeting of the US, Chinese and Russian leaders should be run, and the dispute has raised doubts about whether it will happen at all. The Wall Street Journal News Corp ↗ 1.28% reported on Monday, November 9, that Beijing wants a tightly organized three-way summit in which each leader reads a prepared statement, leaving little room for open discussion. The Journal cited people involved in the preparations. The Trump administration wants a looser format that would let the three heads of state talk with each other directly.wsj.com

The meeting would take place on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, which China is hosting in Shenzhen on Wednesday, November 18, and Thursday, November 19. Trump has said he wants to raise arms control there, a subject Beijing has long refused to negotiate, according to the Journal.wsj.com

Trump expects a meeting

The report came a day after Trump told reporters he expected the meeting to go ahead. "One of the meetings, I think, will be with President Putin and President Xi, and that'll be interesting," he said Sunday, adding that the leaders would discuss "a lot of things, including denuclearization" and that "we're trying to end the war in Iran," Reuters reported. In October, Trump said he was open to three-way arms control talks. Putin has since proposed using the meeting to discuss ending Russia's war in Ukraine, according to Reuters.reuters.com

China's foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said last week that Beijing was "in communication with relevant parties regarding a meeting between the three heads of state," The Independent reported. Neither Beijing nor Moscow has confirmed the summit, the South China Morning Post noted. Experts quoted by the Taipei Times said the three leaders were unlikely to discuss anything substantive, but would probably pose for a photo in a meeting Beijing would carefully choreograph.scmp.com+2

Why Beijing is cautious

Analysts say China has reasons to keep the meeting tightly controlled. Writing for the Lowy Institute, Alicja Bachulska argued that even a photo opportunity could hurt China's ties with Europe by suggesting that it backs great powers deciding Ukraine's future without Europe at the table. Chinese scholars have also rejected putting China in the same arms-control framework as the US and Russia. Sun Chenghao of Tsinghua University warned that doing so "risks turning unequal capabilities into nominally equal responsibilities," the Lowy Institute piece noted.lowyinstitute.org

The disagreement over format reflects this tension. Trump is looking for open talks on denuclearization and Iran, while Beijing wants a scripted event that gives it the role of host without forcing it into negotiations it has long avoided.