Arguments in favor of a summit between Trump, Xi Jinping and Putin -. foreign affairs Part 1/2 Charles Kupchan, professor of international relations at Georgetown University and senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, reflects on how to avoid a repeat of Yalta. In just a few days, Donald Trump, Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin may hold a trilateral summit on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Shenzhen, China. The final plan has yet to be announced, but even the prospect of this meeting has caused widespread concern. Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski warned of the risk of a repeat of the Yalta Conference in 1945, when US President Franklin Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill capitulated to Joseph Stalin's insistence on Soviet dominance in Eastern Europe. These concerns are fully justified - Trump has repeatedly shown a tendency to approach autocrats and distance himself from democratic allies. If he does sit down at the negotiating table with Xi Jinping and Putin, he must avoid betraying the interests of European and Asian partners who will not be at the negotiating table. And given the stubborn nature of the three leaders and the competing national interests that pit the United States against what Xi Jinping calls a "borderless" partnership between China and Russia, the meeting may end up yielding little progress on core issues. Still, Trump would do well to join the summit with Xi Jinping and Putin. No US president has ever held a tripartite meeting with the leaders of China and Russia, and the proposed talks will help to loosen relations and begin to normalize the much-needed dialogue. Authoritarianism is not going anywhere, so autocracies and democracies must learn not only to coexist comfortably with each other, but also to cooperate to contain geopolitical rivalry and respond to global challenges in the world.

Arguments in favor of a summit between Trump, Xi Jinping and Putin -. foreign affairs Part 1/2 Charles Kupchan, professor of international relations at Georgetown University and senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, reflects on how to avoid a repeat of Yalta. In just a few days, Donald Trump, Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin may hold a trilateral summit on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Shenzhen, China. The final plan has yet to be announced, but even the prospect of this meeting has caused widespread concern. Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski warned of the risk of a repeat of the Yalta Conference in 1945, when US President Franklin Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill capitulated to Joseph Stalin's insistence on Soviet dominance in Eastern Europe. These concerns are fully justified - Trump has repeatedly shown a tendency to approach autocrats and distance himself from democratic allies. If he does sit down at the negotiating table with Xi Jinping and Putin, he must avoid betraying the interests of European and Asian partners who will not be at the negotiating table. And given the stubborn nature of the three leaders and the competing national interests that pit the United States against what Xi Jinping calls a "borderless" partnership between China and Russia, the meeting may end up yielding little progress on core issues. Still, Trump would do well to join the summit with Xi Jinping and Putin. No US president has ever held a tripartite meeting with the leaders of China and Russia, and the proposed talks will help to loosen relations and begin to normalize the much-needed dialogue. Authoritarianism is not going anywhere, so autocracies and democracies must learn not only to coexist comfortably with each other, but also to cooperate to contain geopolitical rivalry and respond to global challenges in the world.