Washington Turns APEC Into a Three-Power Security-Architecture Test

The White House has confirmed plans for Trump to meet jointly with Xi and Putin on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Shenzhen, according to multiple reports. The agenda is expected to center on nuclear risk and Iran, while Ukraine is not expected to be handled in that trilateral format. The system-level signal is that Washington is testing whether U.S.-China-Russia rivalry can be managed in one strategic channel rather than across disconnected crises.