Both Beijing and Washington agreed to establish a channel for handling AI-related incidents and accelerate work on military crisis communications following a three-day summit between President Xi Jinping and President Donald Trump in the United States.
The two governments said on Saturday that 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 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 also agreed to sign a memorandum of understanding on strengthening crisis communications and preventing crises between the two militaries, the Foreign Ministry said Saturday in its readout.
Both sides will set up a communication mechanism for artificial intelligence-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.”
China said both sides will continue to work together on the pledge to reduce reciprocal tariffs on roughly US$30bil (RM122.2bil) 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.
Most of the reduction in tariffs is aimed at non-sensitive goods, such as agricultural products or holiday decorations.
The statement from the White House also said the two sides continued to work on American concerns about rare earths supply, “with the goal of ensuring shipment levels return to appropriate levels.”
China put export controls on rare earths last year in response to the US tariffs, cutting the supply sent to the United States and other countries.
Both sides agreed to meet at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Shenzhen, China, in November and then later at the G20 at the Trump National Doral Miami golf club in Florida.
Both governments said Iran should honour its stated commitment not to develop nuclear weapons.
They also said no country should charge tolls on international waterways, an apparent reference to the Strait of Hormuz, where traffic has fallen significantly since the US conflict with Iran began.
Although the summit did not resolve the countries’ fundamental differences, analysts said the incremental progress was noteworthy. — AP
