Beijing is at the centre of a crowded diplomatic calendar this month, with the Apec summit due in Shenzhen and the Kremlin saying a meeting between Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump and Xi Jinping is being arranged around it. The Moscow Times reported that Moscow hopes plans for the trilateral will be finalised in the coming days, while TASS quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov saying Beijing had the leading role in preparing the meeting. Neither outlet described a confirmed date or agenda.

The host city is already adjusting. Nikkei Asia reported that China will keep cars off the streets and close schools in Shenzhen during the summit, a sign of the security and logistics footprint such a gathering carries. NHK, the Japanese public broadcaster, reported separately that the Apec foreign and trade ministers' meeting opened online on the evening of 3 November, an unusual format ahead of the leaders' meeting.

On the sidelines of the summit season, China and the Philippines moved to keep their own channel open. NHK reported that the two countries' foreign ministers held a phone call on 3 November and agreed to maintain dialogue, with both sides due to attend international conferences in mid-November. The call came as tensions over South China Sea claims have deepened between Manila and Beijing, NHK said.

The trilateral question has drawn attention because of its timing rather than any announced programme. Kommersant, the Russian daily, reported that work on organising a Putin-Trump-Xi meeting at the Apec summit in China is already under way, citing Peskov and the Financial Times. TASS, the Russian state news agency, quoted Peskov saying Beijing had the leading role in preparing the meeting. The Moscow Times framed the Kremlin's comments as Moscow hoping the plans will be finalised shortly. None of the three reported a confirmed venue, date or agenda, and the Chinese side's account was not among the wire items available to this desk.

Hindustan Times reported that the Apec summit will be held in Shenzhen from 18 to 19 November, and that officials are discussing a possible trilateral meeting of Trump, Xi and Putin there. The paper attributed the report to the Financial Times. That places the diplomatic activity in a narrow window: the ministers met online this week, the leaders meet in Shenzhen in mid-November, and the Kremlin says the trilateral arrangements are still being worked out.

The Shenzhen preparations reported by Nikkei Asia suggest the host is treating the summit as a major security event. Cars off the streets and schools closed are the kind of measures that accompany high-level gatherings in China, and they indicate the scale Beijing expects. NHK's report that the ministers' meeting was held online rather than in person adds to the impression of a summit being assembled under unusual conditions.

The Philippine call is a separate track but part of the same diplomatic moment. NHK reported that the two foreign ministers agreed to maintain dialogue and that both countries have international conferences scheduled for mid-November. The Japanese broadcaster linked the call to the friction over South China Sea claims, and said the two sides were seeking to stabilise relations ahead of those meetings. The wire did not name the ministers or give further details of what was discussed.

Read together, the items describe a week in which Beijing's diplomacy is being watched from Moscow, Tokyo, Seoul and Singapore. The Kremlin's public comments put a possible Putin-Trump-Xi meeting on the record without confirming it. The Apec host's preparations show the summit is being treated as a major event. And the Philippine call shows a bilateral channel being kept open even as the maritime dispute continues. What the wire does not yet carry is any Chinese confirmation of the trilateral, any readout of the Philippine call from Beijing, or any detail of what the three leaders would discuss if they meet.

The Guardian reported separately that China has held a flurry of meetings with Gulf leaders, a diplomatic push it placed before the anticipated Trump-Xi meeting at Apec. That item belongs to the wider story of Beijing's summit-season diplomacy, and it reinforces the picture of a capital using the run-up to Shenzhen to work several channels at once. The wire available to this desk did not include a Chinese readout of any of these exchanges.