I T IS THE start of the most important week of diplomacy for Donald Trump since he returned to office. A meeting between the American president and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, is planned for October 30th and comes after Mr Trump’s whistlestop tour of many of his country’s most important Asian allies.

With a military purge in Beijing before a major political meeting this week some analysts ask: whom can leader Xi Jinping trust?

Nearly one in six officials who had Central Committee seats were absent from a major conclave, many of them now disgraced.

Mr Xi is firmly in charge, and unabashed about showing the party and the world that he will dump anyone deemed to be a bad actor. It was unclear what, exactly, the purged officials had done to deserve their punishment.

President Donald Trump faces one of the toughest challenges of his second term when he meets Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea on Thursday, where the world's two largest economies will seek to avert an escalation of their trade war.

Trump is scheduled to meet Xi on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit in South Korea, the White House confirmed last week. The high-stakes trade talks come as both leaders attempt to avoid further escalation in the ongoing trade war between the world’s two largest economies.

Chinese President Xi Jinping warned of rising uncertainties as the Communist Party approved its next five-year plan, emphasizing technological innovat

Trump's Asia summit tour includes meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping and other regional leaders as trade tensions with Beijing escalate.