China, US agree to establish AI safety channel, continue trade and military talks

(AP)

China and the United States agreed to establish a channel for handling artificial intelligence (AI)-related incidents and accelerate work on military crisis communications following a three-day summit between President Xi Jinping and President Donald Trump in Washington, the two governments said yesterday.

They also agreed to continue cooperating through a Board of Trade focused on selected bilateral issues. The White House said the board began operating this week.

The summit produced no major breakthroughs, but analysts said the steps toward greater cooperation were important because they established working groups that could help prevent disputes from escalating.

Xi returned to Beijing on Saturday, according to the state-run Xinhua News Agency. During the visit, Trump displayed unusual warmth toward Xi, despite having escalated a trade war with China the previous year that had global repercussions.

The two sides agreed to sign a memorandum of understanding on strengthening crisis communications and preventing crises between the two militaries, China’s Foreign Ministry said Saturday in its readout. The one-page statement from the Chinese side was light on details.

Both sides will set up a communication mechanism for AI-related incidents, to discuss related risks and benefits, with an AI-specific dialogue scheduled for November.

Trump indicated on Saturday that there would be limits on what the US would share with China and said that Washington would not slow its AI efforts.

The “United States of America is not going to be putting on brakes,” Trump told reporters outside the White House. “They want to stop our progress because we’re leading China by a lot and we’re going to keep it that way.”

He added: “I would rather not integrate because we’re leading by a lot. When you’re leading, you don’t open it up to each other. We’re leading by at least a year, maybe a year and a half. Some people say two years. I’m not looking to open it up.”

The statement from China said both sides will continue to work together on the pledge to reduce reciprocal tariffs on roughly US$30 billion worth of goods. During the summit, the two leaders agreed to extend a trade truce by two months. The White House statement said China agreed to import at least 10 million metric tons of coal from the US in 2027 and 2028.