Much anticipated, President Donald Trump and President Xi Jinping’s summit meeting is scheduled for May 14–15, 2026, in Beijing. This meeting is taking place under the shadow of the ongoing U.S.–Israel–Iran–Lebanon war. Newspaper reports have identified at least five key agenda items: Artificial Intelligence, the sale of Boeing aircraft to China, exports of U.S. agricultural products, energy supply security, and the opening of the Strait of Hormuz. From the Chinese perspective, a central objective would be to persuade the United States to stop selling arms to Taiwan and uphold the One China policy. Clearly, this is a broad agenda with multiple dimensions and profound global implications.

Looking at the reported composition of President Trump’s delegation, which includes Tim Cook of Apple, Larry Fink of BlackRock, Stephen Schwarzman of Blackstone, Kelly Ortberg of Boeing, Brian Sikes of Cargill, Jane Fraser of Citi, Jim Anderson of Coherent, Larry Culp of GE Aerospace, David Solomon of Goldman Sachs, Jacob Thaysen of Illumina, Michael Miebach of Mastercard, Dina Powell McCormick of Meta, Sanjay Mehrotra of Micron, Cristiano Amon of Qualcomm, Elon Musk of Tesla, and Ryan McInerney of Visa, it becomes evident that technology and AI pioneers, business magnates, cyberspace strategists, and financial power brokers are expected to assist the U.S. president in reshaping the contours of the emerging global order.

Within this context, it appears that Artificial Intelligence has emerged as the central arena of U.S.–China competition. As a general-purpose technology, AI carries far-reaching implications for economic productivity, military capability, governance, and strategic influence.

The United States’ primary strengths lie in its innovation ecosystem, research institutions, and enduring faith in private-sector dynamism. China, however, has advanced rapidly through sustained state investment, massive data accumulation, and coherent industrial policy. U.S. responses have included export controls, investment restrictions, and efforts to secure supply chains.

These measures reflect a broader shift towards technological decoupling and the securitisation........

© The Friday Times