Trump, Xi, Putin expected to hold first-ever trilateral summit Thursday

US media reports say Donald Trump, Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin are set to hold an unprecedented trilateral summit in China on Thursday (local time), with nuclear arms reduction talks expected to top the agenda and North Korea's status also drawing attention.

The New York Post reported Friday, citing a White House official, that the three leaders plan to meet on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Shenzhen, China, scheduled for Wednesday through Thursday. No official announcement of the three-way meeting has been made.

According to the New York Post, the central focus of the talks is expected to be a nuclear arms reduction agreement involving the United States, China and Russia. A White House official said North Korea and Iran could also come up for discussion.

A trilateral meeting bringing together the leaders of the US, China and Russia would be without precedent. If it takes place, it would mark the first time the three nuclear-armed powers have sat down together to directly address disarmament.

Trump has repeatedly expressed his desire to reach a nuclear arms reduction deal that includes both China and Russia. The New START treaty — the bilateral nuclear arms reduction pact between the US and Russia — expired in February, and no agreement covering China currently exists.

North Korea is another area of interest. Trump has said he wants to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un before the end of the year, and observers are watching whether he will ask Xi and Putin to support a resumption of US-North Korea dialogue and to discourage Pyongyang from provocations.

The three countries' interests diverge, however. China has resisted a trilateral nuclear arms reduction framework, arguing that its nuclear arsenal is far smaller than those of the US and Russia. Russia, meanwhile, remains more focused on ending the war in Ukraine.

Their positions on North Korea also differ. Russia has deepened military cooperation with Pyongyang since the Ukraine war began. China maintains its own ties with North Korea but views the growing Russia-North Korea alignment and rising tensions on the Korean Peninsula as a source of concern.

South Korea's government is closely monitoring whether the summit takes place and what is said about North Korea. Should Korean Peninsula issues come up at a US-China-Russia leaders' meeting, the outcome could have significant implications for US-North Korea relations and security on the peninsula.