As major powers intensify their efforts to secure critical minerals, a new wave of resource nationalism is sweeping the globe. Resource-rich countries are seeking to capitalize on the rivalries to capture more value from their mineral wealth as global mineral supply chains and value chains are reconfigured.

The U.S.-China AI rivalry is being reshaped by the rapid advance of frontier models and a widening divide between U.S.-led closed systems and China’s increasingly competitive open-weight ecosystem. As AI systems become more autonomous and capable, the race for technological leadership is creating risks that traditional diplomacy and governance mechanisms may be increasingly ill-equipped to manage.

To dominate supply chains, the Trump administration is weaponizing the global AI race, even at the expense of catastrophic risks.

As AI models gain the ability to rewrite their own code and train their successors, the link between capability and autonomy makes them increasingly difficult to control, with future outcomes ranging from a carefully managed revolution to society fundamentally reshaping. It’s imperative that China and the U.S. move beyond traditional diplomacy and take cooperation on AI governance seriously.

It is not merely a political narrative in the race for global leadership in next-generation intelligent technologies. Superintelligence is an emerging reality. As AI advances to the super stage, the strategic relationships between major powers will be profoundly reshaped.

Against the backdrop of China-U.S. competition in AI, China-ASEAN cooperation can offer regional countries more practical help in navigating the competitive landscape with greater confidence.

The recent Xi-Trump summit produced a modest but telling outcome on artificial intelligence. An agreement was arrived at to establish a bilateral communication channel for AI-related incidents, with further dialogue scheduled.

As voices questioning artificial intelligence grow louder in the United States, the deeper concerns behind them touch political nerves. AI could well become a new dividing line in the American political spectrum, much like gun control and abortion.

South-South cooperation provides avenues for countries to extract greater dividends from existing capabilities by pooling resources, sharing implementation lessons and building more context-appropriate AI systems.