November 10, 2026
China’s AI Diplomacy Is Working
This article was originally published in Foreign Affairs.
Can the United States and China simultaneously cooperate and compete on AI? That is the question driving debates in Washington about the wisdom of pursuing talks on the subject with Beijing. The Biden administration paired sweeping technology restrictions with a narrow dialogue on risk, and the Trump administration has kept a channel open even as it has downplayed safety. Some experts go further. They hope that cooperation on safety can be siloed off from competition entirely, a belief as appealing as it is fanciful. Any dialogue on AI risk takes place within the broader strategic competition between the United States
If the United States wants to maintain its lead and make meaningful progress on safety, it needs to treat the dialogue as part of the competition with China.
Beijing has long appreciated this dynamic. Much of Washington has not. Whereas the United States has shifted its approach to AI competition and safety across and within presidential administrations, Beijing has kept its AI diplomacy focused on gaining competitive advantage over the United States. China has taken part in international AI safety discussions, but it has used them, along with talks with the United States, to paint U.S. export controls as the main obstacle to cooperation. It has cast itself as the champion of the developing world, promising a Chinese-led AI ecosystem without technological or financial barriers as an alternative to a restrictive U.S.-led AI order. The pitch is working. A growing number of states are embracing China’s message, and Chinese open-weight models are gaining users across the developing world.
Read the full article in Foreign Affairs.
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