US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi discussed a potential trilateral summit with Russia during a phone call on Wednesday. Washington emphasized nuclear disarmament, while Beijing's account omitted any mention of atomic weapons or the three-way meeting.
The call, initiated at China's request, came ahead of President Donald Trump's planned visit to China for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Shenzhen on Nov. 18-19. According to the US State Department, the two diplomats "agreed on the importance of meaningful leader-level conversations to advance goals such as peace and denuclearization, including at any potential trilateral leaders meeting with Russia." China's Foreign Ministry described the conversation as "positive and constructive" but made no mention of nuclear disarmament or the proposed summit.
Rubio said on Tuesday that preparations were underway for a potential meeting between Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the APEC summit. Trump has expressed interest in discussing nuclear arms control with both leaders, though Beijing has resisted joining trilateral nuclear disarmament negotiations. China argues its nuclear arsenal remains substantially smaller than those of the US and Russia, making three-way talks premature.
The proposed summit faces format disputes. According to The Wall Street Journal, Beijing wants a strictly organized meeting with pre-prepared statements. The Trump administration prefers a more open format allowing direct dialogue among the three leaders.
Nuclear arms control remains a sticking point. The last major US-Russia nuclear arms agreement, New START, expired in February, leaving the world's two largest arsenals without a limiting treaty for the first time in decades. The Trump administration has said any future arms control agreement should include China, whose arsenal is expanding faster than those of the US and Russia. A Chinese official said Beijing would not accept participation in such negotiations.
The summit also carries implications for Ukraine. Putin has sought a meeting with Trump and Xi to discuss ending Russia's war against Ukraine on terms favorable to Moscow, according to The Wall Street Journal. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha warned that a trilateral meeting between Russia, China and the US "would encourage Putin to continue this war" rather than bring it closer to an end.
According to the South China Morning Post on Nov. 11, the war in Ukraine and denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula may barely appear on the agenda. Preparatory teams are focusing on areas where agreement is possible, including a mutual commitment to limit artificial intelligence use in nuclear command-and-control systems.
