We recorded this week’s episode of Sharp China earlier today, almost entirely about Xi’s visit tomorrow to Washington, DC. Look for it in your inboxes in less than twelve hours.
In this issue:
1. Li Qiang goes to Shanghai to stress accelerating emerging and future industries and strengthening advanced manufacturing
2. Waiting for Xi
3. Propaganda ahead of Xi’s visit
4. AI
5. Japanese PM on “enemy state” clauses
The Feed: Business, Economy and Trade - Politics and Law - Foreign and Defense Affairs - Hong Kong - Taiwan - Tech and Media - Society, Arts, Sports, Culture and History - Energy, Environment, Science and Health - Jobs and Events - Rural and Agricultural Issues
Today’s top items:
1. Li Qiang goes to Shanghai to stress accelerating emerging and future industries and strengthening advanced manufacturing - Less than a week after the National Advanced Manufacturing Conference , Premier Li went on an inspection tour in Shanghai and visited the National Artificial Intelligence Application Pilot Base 上海电气国家人工智能应用中试基地, where he inspected a range of robotic products (including industrial robots) and heard reports on “AI+” applications and the construction of an AI factory. Li called for integrating manufacturing with digital technologies and further advancing “AI+manufacturing”. Li also added that (researchers) should provide solutions to help companies, especially small and medium-sized companies, carry out “smartization” upgrades in an efficient and low-cost way to strengthen their development momentum and competitiveness.
He also visited the Shanghai Future Qidian Community, also called the Shanghai Engine Community, which was established in 2025 to connect scientists, entrepreneurs, professional managers and investors working on disruptive technologies. Its focus includes AI, advanced nuclear energy, life sciences, space computing, brain-computer interfaces, quantum computing and silicon photonics.
From the readout:
The Shanghai Future Qidian Community is a science and technology innovation-incubation platform focused on future industries. Li visited the community to learn in detail about the development of its innovation ecosystem and the operation of the Shanghai Future Industry Fund. He viewed technologies and products in fields including brain-computer interfaces and quantum computing and spoke with science and technology innovators and community staff. Li said future industries are a potential blue ocean for the development of advanced manufacturing. China should strengthen the tracking, analysis and assessment of future technological development, intensify breakthroughs in key and core technologies, consolidate the support provided by basic research, encourage bold exploration and tolerate trial and error, and continuously expand the frontiers of industrial innovation. It should build a first-rate innovation ecosystem, promote deep integration of industry, academia, research and application, strengthen science and technology services, and actively cultivate and open up application scenarios. Given the long growth cycles and high market risks of future industries, China should vigorously develop venture capital, expand patient capital, and establish mechanisms for increasing investment in future industries and sharing risks. Li stressed that talent is the primary resource and that possessing talent is essential to winning the future. China should strengthen the functions of research institutions, innovation platforms, enterprises and science and technology programs in attracting and cultivating talent; explore new models for training top innovative talent; and strive to produce more highly qualified personnel.
上海未来启点社区是一个专注于未来产业领域的科创孵化平台。李强来到这里，详细了解社区创新生态建设、上海未来产业基金运行等情况，察看脑机接口、量子计算等领域技术产品，与科创人员、社区工作人员亲切交流。李强指出，未来产业是先进制造业发展的潜在蓝海。要加强对未来技术发展的跟踪分析和研判，强化关键核心技术攻关，筑牢基础研究支撑，鼓励大胆探索、包容试错，不断拓展产业创新前沿。要构建一流创新生态，推动产学研用深度融合，做强科技服务，积极培育和开放应用场景。针对未来产业成长周期长、市场风险大的特点，要大力发展创业投资，壮大耐心资本，建立未来产业投入增长和风险分担机制。李强强调，人才是第一资源，拥有人才才能赢得未来。要强化科研机构、创新平台、企业、科技计划的人才集聚培养功能，探索拔尖创新人才培养新模式，努力造就更多高素质人才。
2. Waiting for Xi - Xi Jinping should land in DC in about 24 hours. We still have little visibility on what the outcomes may be, beyond a reaffirmation of the US and PRC versions of the “constructive relationship of strategic stability”, with the US addition of “on the basis of fairness and reciprocity”. Taiwan will be a focus for Xi, and we should expect continued efforts to get Trump to say he “opposes” Taiwan independence and stop arms sales to Taiwan.
Reuters reports that Xi may “press US President Donald Trump to halt Taiwan arms sales under a 1982 joint statement during a visit to Washington this week, which he could do at the US National Archives”, with the carrot being an offer “to put pressure on Iran over the war in the Middle East”. That would be a bad trade.
3. Propaganda ahead of Xi’s visit - The top three articles on the right side of page 1 of the September 22 People’s Daily are on Xi’s letter to US college students, the announcement of Xi’s visit to the US, and a 5400+ character commentary by “Guoji Ping 国纪平”, a collective pen name used by the People’s Daily International Department for especially important international-affairs commentaries, titled “Anchor the New Positioning and Keep the Constructive China-US Relationship of Strategic Stability Moving Steadily Forward 锚定新定位，推动中美建设性战略稳定关系行稳致远”.
I have posted a translation of the Guoji Ping commentary here .
The commentary is an agenda-setting statement explaining Beijing’s desired framework for the relationship: the “constructive China-US relationship of strategic stability,” its “four stabilities,” the four Chinese red lines, and the claim that “Taiwan independence” is a “common enemy” of China and the United States. They really want President Trump to say he “opposes” Taiwan independence:
Peaceful coexistence is the bottom line that the two major countries must firmly uphold.
和平共处，是两个大国必须牢牢守住的底线。
Conflict and confrontation between China and the United States would be an unbearable catastrophe for both countries and indeed the world. The key to achieving enduring stability with the prospect of peace is to abide by the three China-US joint communiqués and respect each other’s social systems, development paths, core interests, and major concerns. The Taiwan question, democracy and human rights, paths and systems, and development rights are China’s four red lines and must not be challenged. They are the guardrails and safety net of China-US relations.
中美冲突对抗对两国乃至世界都将是难以承受的灾难。实现和平可期的持久稳定，关键在于遵守中美三个联合公报，尊重彼此社会制度、发展道路与核心利益和重大关切。台湾问题、民主人权、道路制度、发展权利是中方的4条红线，不容挑战。这些是中美关系的防护栏和安全网。
The Taiwan question is the most important issue in China-US relations; it affects the entire relationship. Handled well, bilateral relations can remain stable overall. Handled poorly, the two countries could collide or even enter conflict, pushing the entire China-US relationship into an extremely dangerous situation. The one-China principle is the political foundation of China-US relations. “Taiwan independence” is the common enemy of China and the United States, and containing “Taiwan independence” is a key component of building a constructive China-US relationship of strategic stability. The United States must handle the Taiwan question with the utmost prudence and take concrete action to safeguard the stable development of China-US relations and peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.
台湾问题是中美关系中最重要的问题，牵一发而动全身。处理好了，两国关系就能保持总体稳定。处理不好，两国就会碰撞甚至冲突，将整个中美关系推向十分危险的境地。一个中国原则是中美关系的政治基础。“台独”是中美共同的敌人，管控“台独”是中美构建建设性战略稳定关系的关键一环。美方务必慎之又慎处理台湾问题，以实际行动维护中美关系的稳定发展以及台海和平稳定。
Win-win cooperation is the trend of the times and should also remain the underlying character of China-US relations.
合作共赢是时代潮流，也是中美关系理应葆有的底色。
Is “containing ‘Taiwan independence’ is a key component of building a constructive China-US relationship of strategic stability” language to which Trump and his team have agreed?
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has put out a short video on “constructive strategic stability”:
4. AI - I recommend this post by a US VC with long experience in China about his recent visit to China and meetings with AI labs and founders. It is written by AI but the substance is worthwhile - Involution Without Export Is Wasted Effort - by David Cheng . Two sections in particular stood out:
Every single meeting, be it labs, investors, media, all independently, without my prompting, described domestic competition as more brutal than competing with American labs. When I described the US framing of Chinese AI as a coordinated bloc moving at the direction of the state, people laughed. Not defensively. They found it funny. I was called a stupid ABC (American-born Chinese) more than once because of this…
The most bearish person I met on Chinese AI is someone who built one of China’s largest AI apps.
His argument: Chinese model gains lean heavily on distilling American frontier models, so the gap is structural rather than temporary. As US labs increasingly withhold their best models from public access, the distillation source dries up and American companies compound the edge. Chinese capital markets demand early monetization, so nobody is funded for long-horizon foundational R&D. And the chip performance gap is insurmountable in the near term.
China’s counter, in his view, is brute force: abundant power plus a command economy stacking enormous volumes of inferior chips until per-chip efficiency stops mattering.
He conceded two strengths: Chinese labs are world-class at post-training, and world-class at on-prem deployment because that was the only way software was ever bought.
His conclusion was that China’s AI sector is built on a poor foundation and, on its current trajectory, has no way of catching the frontier US labs.
The Information reports that the recent Anthropic threat report may have gotten DeepSeek and Moonshot in trouble, as the Cyberspace Administration of China is now investigating them. Anthropic must have known there would be a backlash from their allegations of illegal data transfer overseas and queries to a US model that clearly had national security implications. I doubt though that any punishment will be particularly harsh, but it is also useful for the relevant organs to have a pretext to remind everyone of the rules.
5. Japanese PM on “enemy state” clauses - Bloomberg reports that in her speech to the UN General Assembly, Japan’s Prime Minister Takaichi will call for the UN to remove the clauses in the UN charter that refer to Japan and Germany as “enemy states”. China once supported their removal, the process was never completed, and now the PRC, along with Russia, are ramping up criticism of Japan’s “new militarism” as violations of those clauses.
I wrote about these clauses in the September 10 newsletter :
The PLA Daily is back on the UN Charter’s “enemy-state clauses” (敌国条款). A Wuhan University professor argues in the September 10 edition that the clauses are still valid law, and that with Japan’s “new militarism” (新型军国主义) on the march, saying so out loud is overdue. The peg is a recent Foreign Ministry line, plus Lavrov, who has been making the same argument from Moscow. I have posted a full translation here .
The clauses are obsolete, and the countries who said so include China. In 1995 the General Assembly called them exactly that and set out to delete them, and Beijing voted for it. The 2005 world summit reaffirmed the point, again with China signed on. Neither deletion happened, because amending the Charter needs all five permanent members to ratify and that never happened.
Now as part of the campaign to punish Japan for Prime Minister Takaichi’s Taiwan-related comments last November, we are hearing a lot more about the “enemy-state clauses” and why their existence should prevent Japan from re-arming. Russia has also weighed in on the PRC’s side.
Today’s installment reiterates the veiled threat that somehow the PRC and other founding members (Russia) can take enforcement action against Japan:
Article 53 fortifies the security line: addressing the risk that an enemy state might renew expansion or breach military restrictions, it authorizes UN founding members, when necessary, to take enforcement action without the Security Council’s ordinary authorization, providing direct legal grounds and authorization for action to prevent the revival of militarism. The system as a whole targets the root causes of war and is a core legal barrier through which the international community punishes aggression and protects peace and justice.
第53条筑牢安全防线，针对敌国重启扩张、突破军事限制的风险，授权联合国创始成员国在必要时可不经安理会常规授权采取强制措施，为防范军国主义复辟提供了直接的法律依据和行动授权。整套制度直击战争根源，是国际社会惩戒侵略、守护和平正义的核心法治屏障。
And in spite of previously agreeing they were obsolete, now China’s position is they are not:
In terms of present-day value, the balancing role of the “enemy-state clauses” remains indispensable. Japan’s right-wing forces now vigorously deny aggression, falsify history, and glorify war. At the same time, Japan continues sharply increasing its defense budget, vigorously developing offensive weapons, repeatedly breaching postwar military constraints, and accelerating “remilitarization.” Japan’s “new militarism” has bared its fangs and grown into a menace. Amid a complex and severe geopolitical environment, the clauses’ value as a constraint and counterweight has not diminished but grown more prominent. They are by no means obsolete.
从现实价值看，“敌国条款”的制衡作用至今不可或缺。当前，日本右翼势力极力否认侵略、篡改历史、美化战争。同时，日本持续大幅增加防卫预算、大力发展进攻性军备，不断突破战后军事束缚，加速推进“再军事化”，日本“新型军国主义”已露出獠牙、成势为患。在复杂严峻的地缘政治形势下，“敌国条款”的约束与制衡价值非但未减，反而愈发凸显，绝无过时可言。
Read more
Premier Li on advanced manufacturing; Xi’s US visit; AI; “Enemy state” clauses
Aggregated summary from an independent source. Read the original at Sinocism.