Malaysia’s Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has revealed that Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to attend the Asean summit to be held in Kuala Lumpur in October, potentially turning the annual talks into a stage for a high-stakes meeting between the leaders of the world’s two largest superpowers.
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This is the first indication of a possible meeting venue between Xi and US President Donald Trump, who said on Tuesday that the two leaders could have a meeting “before the end of the year” if both sides were able to come to a trade deal.
Anwar on Friday said this year’s annual summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) would have the “most high-profile gathering of world leaders to date” with Brazilian head of state Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa also expected to attend.
“We look forward to welcoming the heads of governments of Asean and our dialogue partners, including United States President Donald Trump and, I believe, President Xi Jinping of China,” Anwar said in his speech when launching the Asean Day Celebration.
Last week, Anwar announced that Trump had confirmed in a phone call that he would attend the summit.
It would be the mercurial US leader’s first time attending an Asean meeting, and his first visit to Southeast Asia since his return to office in January.
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Trump and Xi were earlier expected to have their first in-person meeting this year at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit in South Korea from October 30 to November 1.