Trump to face Xi Jinping this week as he continues denial of election result

President will take part in second-ever APEC meeting, amid election dispute

Donald Trump is due to come face-to-face with his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, at a virtual summit this week. 

The US president, who has so far refused to concede the 2020 presidential election to Joe Biden, plans to represent the United States at a virtual Asia-Pacific summit  on Friday, a US official told Reuters.

The Chinese President also plans to participate in the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, which will be hosted by Malaysia.

 Mr Trump has not participated in the summit since 2017, when he made his first appearance. 

"POTUS is doing APEC," said a US official, who did not want to be identified, using the acronym for the President of the United States.

The White House declined comment to Reuters ,and while the current plan is for Mr Trump to take part in APEC, he is preoccupied with an uphill battle to contest his defeat in the presidential election. 

One lawsuit is currently underway to stop the certification of election results in Pennsylvania, whilst recounts are being carried-out in Georgia and Wisconsin, following Republican pressure. 

Still, the president has changed his mind about taking part in such meetings in the past, and could still do so before Friday.

He has had no public engagements for 11 days, since the election on 3 November, and is believed to have left the White House only once in that period. 

The Trump administration had faced criticism last week for lower-level participation at a virtual East Asia summit, on the sidelines of which 15 countries signed a major China-backed regional trade deal.

President Xi’s foreign ministry last week congratulated Mr Biden on his election win, which Mr Trump has so far refused to acknowledge.

Mr Trump and president Xi had relatively warm relations amid tensions between the US and China on issues of trade, technology, the South China sea and coronavirus.