Beijing and Washington Can Build AI Safety Despite Mutual Distrust
Foreign Policy
Foreign Policy
Original Source
Despite mutual distrust, recent convergence between Washington and Beijing on artificial intelligence safety suggests potential for practical cooperation between the world's two leading AI powers. Both governments must seize the opportunity to establish substantive dialogue focused on tangible measures rather than ideological disputes.
China-U.S. AI Safety Meetings Can Focus on Practicalities
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Analysis:
Beijing and Washington Can Build AI Safety Despite Mutual Distrust
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Analysis
Beijing and Washington Can Build AI Safety Despite Mutual Distrust
Practical cooperation should exist alongside competition.
By **Xiao Qian**, deputy director of the Center for International Security and Strategy at Tsinghua University.
!Dozens of people are seen from behind as they wait in a queue in a plaza in front of a modern-looking glass-walled building. In front of the line is a large free-standing frame for people to stand in to take photos; it depicts a lobster paired with big text reading "OpenClaw."
*Dozens of people are seen from behind as they wait in a queue in a plaza in front of a modern-looking glass-walled building. In front of the line is a large free-standing frame for people to stand in to take photos; it depicts a lobster paired with big text reading "OpenClaw."*
People queue to have their laptops installed with OpenClaw, an open-source artificial intelligence assistant, at the Baidu headquarters in Beijing on March 11. Adek Berry/AFP via Getty Images
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August 31, 2026, 4:06 PM
During U.S. President Donald Trump’s visit to Beijing in May, he and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to initiate an intergovernmental dialogue on artificial intelligence. The decision was significant. The last official AI dialogue between the two countries took place in May 2024, during the Biden administration. Given the extraordinary pace of AI development and the growing number of incidents involving frontier AI systems, it is remarkable that the world’s two leading AI powers have gone more than two years without an official conversation on one of the most consequential technologies of our time.
If this renewed dialogue is to succeed, then both governments need to move quickly and approach it with a clear sense of purpose.
During U.S. President Donald Trump’s visit to Beijing in May, he and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to initiate an intergovernmental dialogue on artificial intelligence. The decision was significant. The last official AI dialogue between the two countries took place in May 2024, during the Biden administration. Given the extraordinary pace of AI development and the growing number of incidents involving frontier AI systems, it is remarkable that the world’s two leading AI powers have gone more than two years without an official conversation on one of the most consequential technologies of our time.
If this renewed dialogue is to succeed, then both governments need to move quickly and approach it with a clear sense of purpose.
There are encouraging signs that the two countries are beginning to converge on at least one issue: the importance of AI safety and security. Leaders of frontier AI laboratories on both sides of the Pacific have recently begun speaking more openly about preparing for the age of artificial general intelligence (AGI). In his first Substack post in July, Demis Hassabis, co-founder and then-CEO of Google DeepMind, argued that “urgent action is needed to address risks that might arise as we get closer to AGI.”
A similar consensus is emerging in China. Liang Wenfeng, CEO of DeepSeek, and Tang Jie, co-founder of Z.ai, have both recently discussed AGI publicly, emphasizing long-term development, safety evaluation, and responsible deployment. More broadly, China’s frontier AI community is becoming increasingly willing to engage publicly with governance questions.
Governments have also begun to elevate AI safety and security on their policy agendas. In June, the Trump administration issued both an executive order and a presidential memorandum on AI security.
Together, these documents place AI safety and security firmly within a national security framework.T hey emphasize managing the risks posed by increasingly capable AI systems—particularly those related to cybersecurity, critical infrastructure, national security, military applications, and the malicious use of advanced AI—while promoting close public-private cooperation, frontier model evaluations, and the responsible deployment of advanced AI systems.
At the World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) in Shanghai in July, Xi devoted one of the four pillars of his keynote address to AI safety. Calling AI “a trusted tool for humanity,” he urged countries to “strengthen risk-awareness and ensure that AI is secure and controllable”; establish laws, technological monitoring, early warning and emergency response systems; “prevent abuses and malicious use”; and “ensure that AI is always under human control.” The WAIC chair’s statement likewise emphasized maintaining the AI safety “bottom line” and strengthening cooperation against the abuse of AI by terrorist organizations, extremist groups, and transnational criminal networks.
These developments suggest that both the U.S. and Chinese governments increasingly recognize AI safety and security as a strategic issue. Unfortunately, this convergence has been accompanied by growing strategic mistrust.
The launch of the World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization (WAICO) in Shanghai has been interpreted in some U.S. policy circles as China’s response to Pax Silica, reinforcing perceptions of growing institutional competition over global AI governance. At the same time, technological competition has al
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Analysis:
Beijing and Washington Can Build AI Safety Despite Mutual Distrust
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Analysis
Beijing and Washington Can Build AI Safety Despite Mutual Distrust
Practical cooperation should exist alongside competition.
By **Xiao Qian**, deputy director of the Center for International Security and Strategy at Tsinghua University.
!Dozens of people are seen from behind as they wait in a queue in a plaza in front of a modern-looking glass-walled building. In front of the line is a large free-standing frame for people to stand in to take photos; it depicts a lobster paired with big text reading "OpenClaw."
*Dozens of people are seen from behind as they wait in a queue in a plaza in front of a modern-looking glass-walled building. In front of the line is a large free-standing frame for people to stand in to take photos; it depicts a lobster paired with big text reading "OpenClaw."*
People queue to have their laptops installed with OpenClaw, an open-source artificial intelligence assistant, at the Baidu headquarters in Beijing on March 11. Adek Berry/AFP via Getty Images
My FP:
Follow topics and authors to get straight to what you like. Exclusively for FP subscribers. Subscribe Now | Log In
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August 31, 2026, 4:06 PM
During U.S. President Donald Trump’s visit to Beijing in May, he and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to initiate an intergovernmental dialogue on artificial intelligence. The decision was significant. The last official AI dialogue between the two countries took place in May 2024, during the Biden administration. Given the extraordinary pace of AI development and the growing number of incidents involving frontier AI systems, it is remarkable that the world’s two leading AI powers have gone more than two years without an official conversation on one of the most consequential technologies of our time.
If this renewed dialogue is to succeed, then both governments need to move quickly and approach it with a clear sense of purpose.
During U.S. President Donald Trump’s visit to Beijing in May, he and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to initiate an intergovernmental dialogue on artificial intelligence. The decision was significant. The last official AI dialogue between the two countries took place in May 2024, during the Biden administration. Given the extraordinary pace of AI development and the growing number of incidents involving frontier AI systems, it is remarkable that the world’s two leading AI powers have gone more than two years without an official conversation on one of the most consequential technologies of our time.
If this renewed dialogue is to succeed, then both governments need to move quickly and approach it with a clear sense of purpose.
There are encouraging signs that the two countries are beginning to converge on at least one issue: the importance of AI safety and security. Leaders of frontier AI laboratories on both sides of the Pacific have recently begun speaking more openly about preparing for the age of artificial general intelligence (AGI). In his first Substack post in July, Demis Hassabis, co-founder and then-CEO of Google DeepMind, argued that “urgent action is needed to address risks that might arise as we get closer to AGI.”
A similar consensus is emerging in China. Liang Wenfeng, CEO of DeepSeek, and Tang Jie, co-founder of Z.ai, have both recently discussed AGI publicly, emphasizing long-term development, safety evaluation, and responsible deployment. More broadly, China’s frontier AI community is becoming increasingly willing to engage publicly with governance questions.
Governments have also begun to elevate AI safety and security on their policy agendas. In June, the Trump administration issued both an executive order and a presidential memorandum on AI security.
Together, these documents place AI safety and security firmly within a national security framework.T hey emphasize managing the risks posed by increasingly capable AI systems—particularly those related to cybersecurity, critical infrastructure, national security, military applications, and the malicious use of advanced AI—while promoting close public-private cooperation, frontier model evaluations, and the responsible deployment of advanced AI systems.
At the World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) in Shanghai in July, Xi devoted one of the four pillars of his keynote address to AI safety. Calling AI “a trusted tool for humanity,” he urged countries to “strengthen risk-awareness and ensure that AI is secure and controllable”; establish laws, technological monitoring, early warning and emergency response systems; “prevent abuses and malicious use”; and “ensure that AI is always under human control.” The WAIC chair’s statement likewise emphasized maintaining the AI safety “bottom line” and strengthening cooperation against the abuse of AI by terrorist organizations, extremist groups, and transnational criminal networks.
These developments suggest that both the U.S. and Chinese governments increasingly recognize AI safety and security as a strategic issue. Unfortunately, this convergence has been accompanied by growing strategic mistrust.
The launch of the World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization (WAICO) in Shanghai has been interpreted in some U.S. policy circles as China’s response to Pax Silica, reinforcing perceptions of growing institutional competition over global AI governance. At the same time, technological competition has al
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Source: Foreign Policy
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