Xi Jinping to visit South Korea for APEC Summit; will also meet Donald Trump

China on Friday confirmed that President Xi Jinping will visit South Korea to attend the APEC Summit during which he is expected to hold crucial talks with his US counterpart Donald Trump to ease escalating trade tensions between the two countriesEarlier the White House had announced that Trump and Xi would meet on October 30 in South KoreaAt the invitation of South Korean President Lee Jaemyung Xi will attend the 32nd APEC Economic Leaders Meeting in Gyeongju and pay a state visit from Oct 30 to Nov 1 Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun told reporters hereReplying to a question Guo said China and the US are maintaining close communication on a potential meeting between the two heads of stateWhile Trump was open about his plans to meet Xi Beijing was guarded in confirming the meetingOn Thursday White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told a media briefing in Washington that Trump will participate in a bilateral meeting with President Xi on October 30 in South KoreaThe meeting will take place at the end of a threenation Asia trip to Malaysia Japan and South Korea by the US presidentThe meeting will take place in the South Korean city of Busan ahead of the official start of the main AsiaPacific Economic Cooperation APEC summit scheduled for October 31 to November 1 the Hong Kongbased South China Morning Post reportedThe meeting between the heads of the top two world economies comes amid heightened tensions as Beijing signalled tighter control over rare earth exports while Washington threatened additional tariffs and new curbs on key technologiesTrump who had earlier threatened to scrap the meeting amid the trade war flareup said on Wednesday he hoped for a deal on everythingSpeaking to reporters in Washington on Thursday the president said during his talks with Xi he will raise some big issues like the plight of US farmers but the first question that hell ask him will be about fentanyl exports referring to the US accusation that China has failed to curb precursor shipments linked to Americas opioid crisisAnalysts in Washington have warned against expecting major breakthroughs in the meetingBoth sides are approaching the relationship with confidence Both sides believe that the other needs them more than they do And ultimately both sides believe that they have the upper hand a former senior US government official told the PostBoth sides believe they have escalation dominance a very very dangerous place to be the official saidAccording to the White House Trump will leave Washington on Friday for the multination Asia tourTrump will arrive in Malaysia on Sunday local time for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations ASEAN summit a meeting he skipped several times during his first termHe will also hold bilateral meetings with the leaders of Japan Malaysia and South KoreaUS Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Chinese VicePremier He Lifeng are scheduled to meet in Malaysia later this week to lay the groundwork for the TrumpXi meetingThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever