Trump has arranged a rare military flypast for Xi Jinping during the Chinese leader’s three-day US visit, hoping to advance talks on AI regulation and Taiwan. A Telegraph opinion column doubts Xi will make major concessions, citing Beijing’s support for Russia and Iran.
On the eve of the visit, Xi fired two of China’s top generals; the stated reason was “serious violations of discipline and law.” The column presents the firings as an effort to reassert Xi’s authority. It also says Iran was reported to have received high-resolution satellite imagery of a US base in Jordan from Chinese intelligence before an attack earlier this month, and that China is suspected of supplying anti-ship missiles to Iran.
A US Cyber Defence Agency report cited by the column concluded that China-based companies were using AI “distillation”—where a larger system teaches a smaller model its methods—to obtain advanced technology, describing the activity as industrial-scale. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent accused Beijing of undermining the US after rare-earth exports fell, despite Xi’s personal pledge in October to maintain export levels.
