Besent: The U.S. and China Must Clearly Recognize Each Other’s Divergences in AI Cooperation and Competition

Published/10:23, November 11, 2026

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U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Besent attended the 60th anniversary celebration of the U.S.-China Relations National Committee, a non-partisan policy and academic institution, in New York on Tuesday (November 10) and delivered a speech. (Reuters)

U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Besent stated before his visit to China that the U.S. and China should both cooperate and compete in the field of artificial intelligence (AI), and in this process, the two sides should clearly recognize the divergences between each other.

According to a Reuters report, Besent put forward the above views in his prepared speech delivered to the U.S.-China Relations National Committee, a non-partisan policy and academic institution, in New York on Tuesday (November 10). He hopes that the two sides can “establish a constructive relationship on the basis of balance and reciprocity”.

Besent will accompany President Trump of the United States to China next week, and during his participation in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting, he will hold the third meeting with President Xi Jinping of China this year.

This APEC summit is scheduled to be held in Shenzhen from November 18 to 19. Besent revealed that this meeting will promote a new bilateral dialogue between the U.S. and China on “Super Intelligence” (Trump’s term for AI), so as to guard against common risks and “prevent misunderstandings between our two systems”.

He added that the two sides have agreed to establish a direct communication channel to inform each other in the event of serious incidents.

Besent also stated that as AI continues to develop, the U.S. and China must work in the new field of risk management, and show the outside world how the two countries can find a balance between the needs of competition and the responsibility of leadership.

“In this process, we should not harbor any illusions about the divergences between the U.S. and China. As I said before, the interests of the two sides are not always the same; when dealing with various challenges, our approaches may not always be the same either.”