Xi Presses Trump on Taiwan; Both Agree to Leave AI Alone
China’s leader used his White House bilateral to urge Washington to oppose Taiwanese independence, according to a Chinese readout issued afterwards; the White House published none of its own. On artificial intelligence the two found an easier agreement — to do nothing. “Super Intelligence will be a big topic of discussion, but I want to leave it exactly where it is. That is China’s position also,” Mr Trump wrote before the meeting. Mr Xi offered a gentler frame: “The Thucydides trap can be overcome.” Mr Trump called it a “great meeting” and said the two countries had made “tremendous strides”.
Two superpowers agreeing to leave the most consequential technology of the age unregulated is the most significant thing to come out of the day, and it was announced on social media rather than negotiated. Mr Xi’s own formulation was warmer than the substance — both countries have “the capability and responsibility to develop and manage AI for good, and ensure that the development of AI is always under human control” — but nothing binding attaches to it, on the very day Australia was still counting which of its government systems an AI agent had walked into. On Taiwan the asymmetry is unchanged: Washington holds a $14bn arms package in abeyance as what the president calls a negotiating chip. A footnote with weight: no American network carried the remarks live, in protest at the White House press ban a judge had just ordered lifted.