China declined on Tuesday, 10 November, to say whether President Xi Jinping will raise the spying allegations surrounding Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang with US President Donald Trump, as the two leaders prepare to meet at the APEC summit in China next week.

Asked at the foreign ministry's regular briefing in Beijing whether Xi would discuss the allegations involving Huang and businesswoman Alice Huang, also known as Huang Le, with Trump, spokesperson Guo Jiakun did not answer the question directly. He said both sides were "in communication regarding arrangements for interactions between the two countries' heads of state within the year", according to Reuters.

Guo said China had clarified its position on the allegations involving the Nvidia chief executive on multiple occasions. Beijing has called the "so-called Chinese spy narrative" baseless speculation and a smear against China. He gave no specific information when asked to confirm whether Alice Huang was a Chinese citizen or where she is now.

Investigation under way in the US

Nvidia's board has launched an independent investigation into whether Huang was the target of a foreign intelligence effort, and the company's shares fell 4% in the United States on Monday. Nvidia futures steadied in Asia on Tuesday, while shares of the chipmaker's Asian suppliers largely shrugged off the controversy, analysts said.

The episode has drawn comment from governments in Asia that host some of Nvidia's most important suppliers. Taiwan's Premier Cho Jung-tai told a legislative session on Tuesday that the island's export-control laws and regulations are designed to protect its interests, particularly in sensitive high-tech industries. He said the matter was being investigated by US authorities and that Taiwan was also looking into the situation.

In South Korea, Second Vice Minister of Science and ICT Ryu Je-myung told a parliamentary budget committee on Monday: "We need to wait and see what impact the recent issue [related to Jensen Huang] will have on Nvidia." He added that 10,000 graphics processing units funded under South Korea's 2025 supplementary budget had already arrived and were in use.

APEC meeting looms

Xi is expected to meet Trump at the APEC leaders' summit in China next week, where the Nvidia episode is likely to form part of the backdrop to wider talks on trade and technology. Neither side has confirmed whether the subject will be raised directly between the two presidents.

For now, Beijing's message is that it considers the matter closed on its side, while Washington's investigation and the questions around Alice Huang remain unresolved. The episode underlines how quickly a corporate governance issue at one of the world's most valuable companies can become a diplomatic question between the United States and China.