Trump to meet China’s Xi in South Korea, cancels planned summit with Putin

US President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday that he will go on a diplomatic trip to Malaysia, South Korea, and Japan, with a key meeting scheduled with Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea.

Trump also revealed that he has cancelled a planned summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, citing a lack of progress in diplomatic efforts. “It didn't feel right to me,” he said, adding that he did not want a “wasted meeting.”

Trump said that next week they would be going to Malaysia, South Korea, and Japan, and that in South Korea he would be meeting with President Xi of China. He added that they had a pretty long meeting scheduled, during which they could work out many of their questions, doubts, and tremendous assets together. He also said that they had cancelled the meeting with President Putin because it did not feel right to him and it did not seem like they were going to reach the place they needed to, so he had cancelled it.

The cancellation comes after Russia rejected Trump’s proposed ceasefire plan in Ukraine. The US President expressed optimism that his meeting with Xi could help end the Russia-Ukraine war. He plans to discuss energy and oil with Xi, aiming to pressure Russia into negotiating a peace agreement.

Trump said that he would probably be talking about it, but what he would really be discussing was how they could end the war between Russia and Ukraine, whether through energy, oil, or anything else. He added that he thought Xi Jinping would be very receptive and would like to see the war end.

The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit is scheduled to take place in South Korea from October 30 to November 1 in Gyeongju, coinciding with Trump’s visit.

Trump expressed hope that Xi could influence Putin to pursue a ceasefire. He said that he thought Xi would have a big influence on Putin and on many other people, describing him as a respected man, a very strong leader of a very big country, and that he believed Xi could have a significant influence.

Trump also criticised the foreign policies of his predecessors, claiming that former US Presidents Joseph Biden and Barack Obama had “forced” China and Russia together.

He said that China had a somewhat different relationship with Russia, which was never good, but because of Biden and Obama, they had been forced together. He added that they never should have been forced together, though by nature they could not be friendly. Trump expressed hope that they would be friendly and said that China and Russia should not have been forced together, adding that Biden and Obama had done so because of energy and oil.