Putin Proposes Trump-Xi-Putin Summit at APEC Shenzhen — SkimNews
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- Putin proposed a three-way summit with Trump and Xi Jinping during an October 9 phone call, targeting the sidelines of the APEC meeting in Shenzhen on November 18–19, per the Wall Street Journal.
- In the same October 9 call, Trump and Putin agreed Washington would buy Russian diesel — a concession the author says reverses years of US energy policy before any formal negotiations.
- The Kremlin has confirmed the talks and Beijing has signaled it will not object; Trump said he would attend if Xi wants the meeting.
- Xi Jinping would serve as host, convener and leverage-holder — the inverse of Kissinger's 1972 triangle, in which Washington was the apex — because China is Russia's largest customer and a key supplier of components for its war machine.
- Ukraine and European powers would be excluded from any Shenzhen settlement table; the author argues a deal imposed without Kyiv's signature amounts to "an intermission" rather than a settlement.
- The author recommends a Trump-Putin-Zelensky format with China as a guarantor rather than arbiter, and warns that linking Ukraine negotiations to Taiwan would force Washington to "negotiate against itself in two theaters at once."
Why it matters: By convening on Chinese soil, Beijing converts its "no-limits" partnership with Moscow into direct authority over European security architecture, with Xi's price of admission likely softer US positions on Taiwan or technology export controls. Trump has already conceded a diesel deal on the same call that pitched the summit, telegraphing a pattern of paying before negotiating that the article flags explicitly.
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