US and China should stay clear-eyed on AI cooperation and competition: Bessent
AI generated
asserted
AI → stay → cooperation
The United States and China should harbor no illusions about their differences on artificial intelligence as they navigate cooperation to mitigate the technology's risks while competing for AI supremacy, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Nov 10.
asserted
Bessent → harbor → Nov
Bessent, who will travel to China next week for US President Donald Trump's third meeting in 2026 with Chinese President Xi Jinping, said in prepared remarks to the National Committee on US-China Relations in New York that he wanted to "build a constructive relationship on the basis of balance and reciprocity”.
asserted
he → travel → balance
The meeting in Shenzhen, to be held on the sidelines of the Nov 18-19 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders summit, will advance a new bilateral dialogue on "superintelligence", or SI, Bessent said, using the Trump administration's preferred term for the technology.
asserted
Bessent → hold → technology
The dialogue is meant to guard against shared risks and "prevent a misunderstanding between our two systems”, Bessent said.
asserted
Bessent → mean → systems
"We also expect to exchange best practices for evaluating and testing advanced models before their release, and for keeping human judgment firmly in command of this technology," he said, adding the two sides had agreed to establish a direct channel for alerting each other to serious incidents.
asserted
sides → expect → incidents
Trump and Xi agreed on the new AI alert system during their previous meeting at the White House in September, but Trump at the time also said he was reluctant to add new guardrails because he wanted to preserve US leadership.
asserted
he → agree → leadership
"As SI advances, so will the need to engage in new areas of risk management — and to demonstrate how two nations can reconcile the demands of competition with the responsibilities of leadership," Bessent said.
asserted
Bessent → advance → leadership
"As we do so, we should harbor no illusions about the differences between the United States and China.
asserted
we → do → States
As I stated earlier, our interests will not always coincide.
asserted
interests → state → ?
And our approach to every challenge, likewise, will not always converge," he added.
asserted
he → converge → challenge
Nvidia questions
Bessent's remarks made no mention of the controversy surrounding Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, who is facing an investigation by the AI chipmaker's board after a New York Times report that he had an affair with a businesswoman suspected by US security services of being a Chinese intelligence asset.
asserted
he → make → services
China's foreign ministry has called the spying accusations "groundless" and "a smear”.
asserted
ministry → call → accusations
Nvidia has said its board has no reason to believe US national security or company secrets were compromised and that Huang has committed to cooperating with the internal review.
asserted
Huang → say → review
Huang has told employees he was unfaithful to his wife, but provided no details about the relationship.
asserted
he → tell → relationship
While Huang was present at the Trump-Xi summits in Beijing in May and in Washington in September, it was unclear if Trump would bring him to the APEC summit.
uncertain
Trump → bring → summit
A fourth Trump-Xi summit this year is expected in December at the US-hosted G20 summit in Miami.
asserted
summit → expect → Miami
In remarks that referred to the initial US trade voyage to China in 1784 to trade American ginseng for Chinese tea, porcelain and silk, Bessent said that the US-China relationship would be sustained by "the wisdom -- and the will -- to recognize where common purpose must prevail over competing interests”.
asserted
purpose → refer → interests
Bessent referred to other trade initiatives agreed during the two previous Trump-Xi summits, including the establishment of a "Board of Trade" to determine mutual tariff cuts on US$30 billion (S$38.4 billion) of non-sensitive goods in each direction, and China's pledged purchases of US farm goods.
asserted
Bessent → refer → goods
A similarly structured "Board of Investment" will provide a structured forum for issues including market access for American companies in China and "increased predictability for Chinese companies”, he said.
asserted
he → structure → companies
He reiterated that the US trade deficit with China remains a source of friction, but the US objective is to "de-risk, not to decouple" from trade with China.
asserted
objective → reiterate → China
The Aporia
