WASHINGTON, Sept 19 — United States (US) President Donald Trump said he has agreed with Chinese President Xi Jinping to meet at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit scheduled to take place in South Korea later this year.
Yonhap News Agency reported him as making the remarks in a social media post shortly after holding phone talks with Xi, which he described as "very productive".
"I also agreed with President Xi that we would meet at the APEC Summit in South Korea," Trump wrote on Truth Social, referring to the multilateral gathering set to take place in the south-eastern city of Gyeongju from October 31 to November 1.
He added: "Both look forward to meeting at APEC!"
It remains unclear whether the planned meeting between Trump and Xi would be a formal summit or just an encounter on the margins of the APEC summit. If it goes ahead, it will mark their first in-person meeting since the Group of 20 summit in Osaka, Japan, in June 2019.
The meeting between the leaders of the two superpowers is expected to draw keen international attention to the APEC summit in South Korea, as their sit-down, depending on its outcome, could have broad implications for global trade, security, and other areas.
South Korea's preparations for the APEC summit come as President Lee Jae-Myung's administration seeks to strengthen the bilateral alliance with the United States and maintain stable relations with China under his "pragmatic" foreign policy approach.
In the post, Trump added that Xi and he agreed that he would visit China early next year, and that Xi would come to the US "at an appropriate time".
Trump made his last presidential trip to China in November 2017 during his first term. Xi visited Florida to meet Trump in April 2017.
