China is turning to Washington from a position of increasing strength

Analysis by CNN's Simon McCarthy.

(CNN) -- When Chinese leader Xi Jinping visits Washington this week, he will sit at the negotiating table with President Donald Trump from a very different position than when the two men met face-to-face in the United States nearly a decade ago.

At the 2017 summit hosted by Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort, China was lagging behind the United States in several areas, and was vulnerable to the technology and trade disputes that Trump was about to unleash against it the following year.

Now, Xi is at the head of a country that has undergone a major transformation.

The world's second largest economy has emerged as a technological superpower; Local technology talent is pushing Chinese AI models closer and closer to Silicon Valley levels of leadership. Beijing-based space companies are also launching and landing reusable rockets, with an eye toward competing with world leader SpaceX. Companies in the energy, artificial intelligence, robotics and memory chips sectors witnessed massive listings on stock markets over the past year.

China's manufacturing juggernaut posted a global trade surplus of $1.2 trillion last year, driven in part by growing demand for Chinese electric cars, solar panels and chips. Beijing's influence over the supply chains of some exports, especially rare earth elements, has also given China a unique leverage against Washington and Trump's "America First" trade war.

At a time when the United States is working to raise tensions with its allies, and has not yet found a way to end its war with Iran, which is destabilizing the global economy, Xi is working to enhance China's image as a responsible and reliable global power.

In the halls of policymaking in Beijing, there is a clear consensus: Gone are the days when the United States could impose unilateral demands on China.

“China is much more confident than it was nine years ago, and what is more important is that today China has found an effective way to keep the United States in check,” said Wu Xinbo, dean of the Institute of International Studies at Fudan University in Shanghai, which advises the government on foreign policy.

He added: "Washington must deal with Beijing on the basis of greater equality and respect, and this relationship must become increasingly more equal."

But this does not mean that the risks or stakes are low for Xi, as he arrives in Washington for a visit expected to last three days. The Chinese leader is counting on the shift towards advanced technology to inject new momentum into his country's economy, which is witnessing a slowdown. Maintaining “constructive strategic stability” — a goal the two sides agreed to during a meeting in Beijing in May — would help ensure that this path is not hampered by tensions or conflicts with the United States.

But Xi, buoyed by China's growing global and technological influence, will also present a new reality to the United States: that, although Beijing seeks a stable relationship with Washington, its rise does not depend on that relationship.

Self-sufficient country

For Xi, a key source of this confidence was China's ability to diversify its trade away from the US market and build its technological self-sufficiency, two goals made more important by the pressures placed on China by the first Trump administration.

Beijing has pumped massive funding and political will into building its own technologies in advanced sectors, such as robotics, artificial intelligence, biotechnology, space, new energy, and chips, as well as employing these technologies in industry.

But the fruits of this growth are not evenly distributed. The youth unemployment rate reached its highest level recently last month. Hundreds of millions of workers rely on the gig economy, such as delivering food or driving ride-sharing services, as their main source of work. Consumption is still lagging, local governments are suffering under the weight of debt, and a huge crisis in the real estate sector continues.

People from all walks of life in China will readily tell you that the economy is not as good as it used to be. But alongside that, there is often a sense of pride that the country has managed to rise as a technological power, even in the face of restrictions imposed by the United States.

A good example of this is Huawei, the Chinese technology giant that was blacklisted by the first Trump administration. In recent days, Chinese technology bloggers have posted videos expressing clear gloating over Apple's launch of its foldable phone, which was accompanied by great media fanfare. They pointed out that Huawei had introduced its foldable model seven years ago.

Days before Xi's visit to the United States, Huawei also announced that the next generation of artificial intelligence chips (Ascend) will be released ahead of schedule, next year, indicating progress in a field that has been a major obstacle for China in the path of developing artificial intelligence.

“We cannot accept a fate in which we are powerless to control our own fate while others determine it based on whether or not they want to sell chips to China,” Eric Xu, Huawei's rotating president, said earlier this month.

While American public opinion is largely pessimistic about the development of artificial intelligence, their counterparts in China are more focused on how this technology could impact their daily lives. Job losses are a concern, but there is also a sense of opportunity to be seized, and that the ruling Communist Party, with its tight control over society, will not allow technology to get out of control.

"Equality of power"

Xi is heading to the United States amid a rising tide of debate about the risks of artificial intelligence, including risks associated with Chinese models. Trump said the United States cannot slow down development for safety reasons, because it must focus on getting ahead of China.

This highlights a key goal for Xi and his delegation: to persuade the United States not to impose further technological restrictions that might further limit Chinese companies' access to American technology or markets.

Sun Qinghao, a senior researcher at the Center for Strategic Studies and International Security at Tsinghua University in Beijing, said China wants to see “greater predictability and stability in the economic and technological relationship,” and “a stronger political commitment to prevent sensitive issues — particularly the Taiwan issue and technical restrictions — from destabilizing relations as a whole.”

But this is also where the shift in the balance of power between China and the United States comes into play.

Both sides realize that the new restrictions, if Beijing sees them as too aggressive, could reignite the conflict that last year pushed the two countries' economies to the brink of complete separation.

The truce that ended that round of their trade war was reached only after Beijing threatened to dramatically expand export controls on strategically important rare earth elements, in response to a US move that would have significantly expanded the number of Chinese companies on the blacklist.

That truce is likely to be extended this week, and both sides will be careful not to push the other too far into a “no-win situation because the two forces are on par,” according to Kurt Tong, managing partner at The Asia Group, a consultancy.

“In the economic sphere, no player is really superior,” said Tung, who previously served as US consul general in Hong Kong. “Because the two sides have equal leverage, both sides are reluctant to take actions that would be costly to them.”

He added that Trump "looks at Xi Jinping and sees a peer, not someone who can be subjugated."

He knows something

China is now viewed more favorably than the United States in most of the 36 countries surveyed in a new Pew Research Center poll published in July. Xi also narrowly outperformed Trump in the level of trust in him, according to the poll results.

These changes coincide not only with a reshaping of the United States' role on the global stage, but also with a shift in China's ability to exercise soft power. People around the world are using Chinese AI models in their work, and driving Chinese electric cars. Widespread cultural exports, such as “Labobo” dolls and Chinese soap operas, along with the trend known as “Chinamaxxing” online, also contributed to increasing interest in China and tourism there.

In recent weeks, Xi has made a rare series of foreign diplomatic visits, during which he presented his own vision of Chinese leadership and the world order.

At the BRICS summit of emerging economies in New Delhi earlier this month, he pledged to help member countries establish smart factories and develop artificial intelligence models.

During a state visit to Egypt earlier this month, Xi put forward proposals for a “new security architecture” in the Middle East, not dependent on the US security umbrella. A large number of leaders also flocked to Beijing this year.

On the other hand, the White House has sought in recent weeks to blame countries that continue to deal with the Iranian government for the ongoing war that the United States has begun in Iran, pledging to force them to stop those dealings or face major sanctions. As China is Iran's largest trading partner, it tops the list of those countries.

But this is also an example of how China's growing influence and leverage may emerge during upcoming talks.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi in Beijing last week. The talks were partly aimed at "clarifying some issues, so that the two leaders in Washington can have a more substantive discussion on the issue," according to Wu, the policy adviser.

This gives Beijing scope to point out that any move to punish its companies would deprive Washington of any opportunity to take advantage of China's ability to communicate with both sides of the conflict.