“The Chinese president has shown no desire to pressure Iran to end the war” - article in The Independent
The press tour covers two articles about the visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to the United States and his meeting with President Donald Trump, and the importance it holds in the issues of trade and artificial intelligence, in light of the efforts of both parties to maintain a degree of stability and manage differences between them, while a third article highlights the potential risks of artificial intelligence on students’ abilities.
An article was published in The Independent entitled “Global trade truce on the agenda as Xi Jinping and Trump meet.”
The article begins the discussion of the “rare departure from protocol” with US President Donald Trump personally receiving Xi at Andrews Air Force Base.
This step represents an indication of how serious Trump is with this visit, and of the major shift in China’s position on the global stage since Xi’s last visit to Washington more than a decade ago, when he was forced to wait for his opportunity to meet with then-President Barack Obama during a nuclear security summit, according to the article.
While the war with Iran is expected to cast a shadow over the meeting, "the actual essence of the talks will be how to preserve the unstable economic relationship between the United States and China."
The article adds that China is entering the talks from a strong position, largely due to the conflict in the Middle East. Based on the opinion of analysts, Xi Jinping will not be in a rush to make concessions to the American president, who is constrained by the costly war, which has hurt the pockets of Americans and affects his approval ratings ahead of the midterm elections.
The article indicates that Washington believes that the Chinese President has a unique ability to exert pressure on Iran in order to end the war that pushed Trump’s approval rating to the lowest level in his political career, but the Chinese President has shown little desire to do so, according to the newspaper.
The article quotes Sam Goodman, senior policy director at the China Strategic Risk Institute, saying: “At the moment it appears very much like the Chinese have the upper hand here, and it is clear that the Americans are very reluctant to take any actions against China regarding Iran that might displease Beijing.”
Although the Iran war occupied a prominent place in the meeting, the main focus of the meeting “will be on whether the two leaders will indicate the extension of a trade truce concluded last year that spared the global economy a major shock.”
According to the article, making plans to extend the truce and add some specific tariff reductions is a more likely outcome than reaching a broad new trade agreement.
Possible consensus between Washington and Beijing on artificial intelligence
And to The Guardian, which published an article entitled “Artificial Intelligence Overshadows the US-China Meeting,” written by Amy Hawkins, David Smith, and Yu-Chen Lee.
The article finds that the previous summit, held in Beijing in May, there was much talk about building “strategic stability” between the United States and China, but tangible results were limited, as the two countries remain in sharp disagreement over trade, export controls, and geopolitical issues.
While “many do not expect any major breakthroughs this week,” the article considers artificial intelligence to be one area where Trump and Xi may reach some consensus.
This comes as the article refers to concerns in the United States that artificial intelligence is advancing too quickly, but the author urges the United States to “strive to maintain its superiority over China” in this field.
While the article indicates that China does not agree with US assessments about the serious threat posed by its developments in the field of artificial intelligence, on the other hand, it hopes to obtain a long-term commitment to eliminate tariffs, which pose a threat to China's export-based economy.
The article concludes by pointing out that despite reports about the United States’ unwillingness to agree to anything that might weaken its negotiating ability in the future, China, which obtained an important concession from Trump by suspending a package of American arms sales to Taiwan, may not feel the need to negotiate, as despite the trade war, its exports have risen sharply and it is on its way to achieving a trade surplus worth one trillion dollars for the second year in a row, according to the article.
Artificial intelligence 'harms students' ability to learn'
In the context of talking about artificial intelligence, The Washington Post published an article by the writer, Susan Sverloga, entitled “Artificial Intelligence is harming students’ ability to think.”
The author says that when GBT chat appeared, professors warned about the possibility of using artificial intelligence to cheat, but teachers’ fears have become much deeper, as artificial intelligence appears to be harming their students’ ability to learn and think for themselves.
Although "the technology is so new and changing so rapidly that definitive long-term data on its impact cannot be obtained," preliminary evidence from some studies suggests that large language models, when used unchecked, may harm students' skill acquisition, according to the article.
