{"slug": "looming-dangers-under-china-us-ties-ai-and-rare-earths-reveal-a-fragile-floor", "title": "‘Looming dangers’ under China-US ties: AI and rare earths reveal a fragile floor", "summary": "At the World Economic Forum in Dalian, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences expert Zhao Hai warned that US-China ties remain fragile despite a recent leaders' summit, citing unresolved structural forces, technology disruptions, and investment restrictions. Zhao said the calm is temporary as both nations face looming dangers from AI and rare earths competition.", "body_md": "# ‘Looming dangers’ under China-US ties: AI and rare earths reveal a fragile floor\n\nAt World Economic Forum meeting in Dalian, Graham Allison says US and China recognise applications of AI may be bad for both of them\n\n[Cao Jiaxuan](/author/cao-jiaxuan)in Beijing\n\n[China-US ties](https://www.scmp.com/topics/us-china-relations?module=inline&pgtype=article), even as last month’s leaders’ summit placed a temporary floor under the fragile relationship, an expert from China’s top state-affiliated think tank warns.\n\n[World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Dalian](https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3358191/summer-davos-china-mideast-firms-look-next-generation-repair-gulf?module=inline&pgtype=article)on Thursday, Zhao Hai, of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), struck a cautious note on the trajectory of the world’s most consequential bilateral relationship, saying the current calm remained fragile.\n\n“I’m not that rosy about the future because the structural forces are still working,” said Zhao, director of the international politics programme at CASS’s National Institute for Global Strategy.\n\n[technology disruptions](https://www.scmp.com/topics/us-china-tech-war?module=inline&pgtype=article)and investment restrictions that continued to cast a shadow over the relationship despite high-level diplomacy.\n\nLast month, US President Donald Trump’s high-stakes visit to China produced few economic deliverables but he and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, agreed to build what Washington called a “constructive relationship of strategic stability”.\n\nEven though the meeting restored a degree of stability and helped ease pressure on supply chains, including aircraft engine deliveries, Zhao said it did little to resolve the deeper mismatch between how Washington and Beijing see the relationship.\n\nAnd while the Trump administration tended to frame ties in transactional terms, Zhao said, Xi approached the talks through a broader global, bilateral and people-to-people lens.\n\n“At this stage, it’s no longer a pure bilateral relationship. It’s a global relationship,” Zhao said at the Dalian meeting, also known as “Summer Davos”.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/looming-dangers-under-china-us-ties-ai-and-rare-earths-reveal-a-fragile-floor", "canonical_source": "https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3358351/looming-dangers-under-china-us-ties-ai-and-rare-earths-reveal-fragile-floor?utm_source=rss_feed", "published_at": "2026-06-25 10:29:02+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-06-25 10:52:08.751698+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["artificial-intelligence", "ai-policy", "ai-safety"], "entities": ["Chinese Academy of Social Sciences", "World Economic Forum", "Zhao Hai", "Graham Allison", "Donald Trump", "Xi Jinping", "Dalian"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/looming-dangers-under-china-us-ties-ai-and-rare-earths-reveal-a-fragile-floor", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/looming-dangers-under-china-us-ties-ai-and-rare-earths-reveal-a-fragile-floor.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/looming-dangers-under-china-us-ties-ai-and-rare-earths-reveal-a-fragile-floor.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/looming-dangers-under-china-us-ties-ai-and-rare-earths-reveal-a-fragile-floor.jsonld"}}