Xi says China, US must keep AI under human control at Trump’s White House welcome

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President Xi Jinping has a loaded itinerary for the first full day of his trip to the US – a journey made nearly a decade after the Chinese leader’s previous visit – including formal talks with US President Donald Trump, who travelled to Beijing in May.

According to a schedule released by the Trump administration, the day will begin with an arrival ceremony at the White House. As the two leaders hold an official dialogue, US first lady Melania Trump will accompany her Chinese counterpart, Peng Liyuan, to the National Museum of Asian Art. The couples will reunite for a state dinner in the evening.

In a written statement published after his arrival on Wednesday, Xi said the two countries “should be partners rather than adversaries” and foster a “stable relationship defined by cooperation as the mainstay”, hours after the US and China had agreed to extend their trade truce.

Nevertheless, the trip – and Trump’s unprecedented in-person welcome at Joint Base Andrews – come amid a fluctuating US-China relationship. Both Washington and Beijing are jockeying for position in arenas as diverse as trade, artificial intelligence (AI), resources and global influence.

Reporting by Teresa Frontado, Mark Magnier, Pinghui Zhuang, Lucy Quaggin, Nayan Seth, Han Li, Khushboo Razdan, Vincent Chow, Holly Chik, Siqi Ji and Dewey Sim

All times given in blog entries are Eastern Time (UTC-5, HKT-13)