US President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping will meet in South Korea next month, marking their first encounter in more than six years and the most significant geopolitical moment yet of Trump’s second presidential term.
The two leaders will fly to Seoul next month in time for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in the historic city of Gyeongju on Oct. 31–Nov. 1.
It remains unclear whether the Trump-Xi meeting will be a formal summit or just an encounter on the sidelines of the APEC forum.
In any form, their meeting will mark their first encounter since they met at the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan, in June 2019.
Trump made public his planned meeting with Xi on Saturday through his Truth Social post shortly after he had phone talks with Xi, which he called “very productive.”
“I also agreed with President Xi that we would meet at the APEC Summit in South Korea, that I would go to China in the early part of next year, and that President Xi would, likewise, come to the United States at an appropriate time,” he wrote on Truth Social.
PRAGMATIC POLICY WITH WASHINGTON, BEIJING
With the APEC summit now set as the stage for Trump and Xi’s long-awaited encounter, the focus will be on whether their Gyeongju meeting can lay the groundwork for easing tensions or merely serve as a prelude to bigger tests for their expected future meetings in Beijing and Washington.
The high-stakes Trump-Xi meeting is also expected to draw keen attention as their sit-down, depending on its outcome, could have broad implications for global trade, security and other sectors.
Meanwhile, Seoul’s preparations for the APEC summit come as President Lee Jae Myung’s administration seeks to strengthen its bilateral alliance with the US and maintain stable relations with China under his pragmatic foreign policy approach.
The agenda for Trump and Xi is likely to be fraught.
Washington and Beijing remain at odds over tariffs, export controls on semiconductors and rare earths; China’s support for Russia amid the war in Ukraine; and the control of the short video platform TikTok.
NORTH KOREA’S KIM JONG UN AT APEC?
For South Korea, hosting the two leaders carries both risk and opportunity.
Seoul hopes the APEC setting will provide a chance to raise the North Korean nuclear issue, though analysts caution it will not be a priority compared with global economic and security disputes.
“North Korea may not feature prominently, but even a flicker of renewed attention could be significant for Seoul,” said Victor Cha, senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Attention is also turning to whether North Korean leader Kim Jong Un might make a surprise appearance.
South Korean officials have played down the possibility, but Trump has repeatedly expressed interest in reviving direct diplomacy with the North Korean leader.
By In-Soo Nam
isnam@hankyung.com
Jennifer Nicholson-Breen edited this article.
