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.

The “allied scale” strategy proposed by Rush Doshi and Kurt Campbell, which could have the power to unite the U.S. and its allies in an economic bloc to counter China, is likely doomed by U.S. domestic politics. As allies might demand trade concessions that cost American jobs in politically sensitive areas, the resulting backlash would unravel the bloc. With this, U.S. leaders should consider more cooperative approaches toward China instead.

President Trump’s efforts to maintain stable U.S.-China relations face resistance from anti-China hawks within his own party. Despite positive developments from recent bilateral summits, disagreements over Taiwan, nuclear weapons, and China’s growing global influence raise questions about whether Trump can sustain his cooperative approach to Beijing.

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.

At the recent summit between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, China’s primary objective was to prevent tensions from escalating further. From that perspective, it was largely successful.

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.

The May and September reciprocal state visits by U.S. President Donald Trump and China’s President Xi Jinping have seemingly succeeded in cementing warm personal ties between the two leaders while stabilizing an unstable U.S.-China relationship. Historians may look back on these twin summits as perhaps a turning point following a decade of tumult and steadily intensifying competition between the two powers. While the two summits have succeeded in warming the atmosphere, there remains much substantive and institutional work to do.

Moonshot AI’s Kimi is emerging as a Chinese competitor to Anthropic’s Claude, with increasingly comparable capabilities but notable differences in performance, personality and content restrictions. The comparison highlights how the two models reflect distinct technological approaches and regulatory environments as competition between the U.S. and China’s AI industries intensifies.