President Xi goes to Washington

Luke Wilson (0:00)

Washington awaits the arrival of the Chinese president. It's World Business Express from the BBC World Service. I'm Luke Wilson. The International Monetary Fund says countries need to reduce their debt levels, and the boss of Europe's biggest airline warns higher ticket prices are on the way.

Donald Trump has met a lot of world leaders in recent days at this year's UN General Assembly. But the most hotly anticipated meeting is still a few hours away. The US president will welcome China's Xi Jinping in the next few hours. And there's a lot for the leaders of the world's two biggest economies to talk about. I asked Riva Gujjan, who covers China for the consultancy rhodium group, what each side wants from the meeting.

Riva Gujjan (0:47)

First on optics, I think Beijing is coming into the summit with a message that the global south is with China and that it rejects US dictated rules, that the world has lost trust in US security guarantees, and that the global south wants Chinese technology to modernize its economies. On the other hand, you have the US on the optics side trying to shape a narrative that no, the world is with the United States in arguing that China's trade imbalances that it's imposing on the world is deindustrializing the world's most advanced economies, and this has to stop. Fundamentally, when these two leaders meet, there's not a whole lot of substance coming out of the summit itself. I see it more as a test of guardrails.

Luke Wilson (1:36)

And we've heard both countries talking about AI a lot recently. The bosses of companies like Anthropic calling for guardrails and regulation, putting that in the spotlight. They are the two biggest AI players. Do we see anything like cooperation or a way forward on that, do you think?

Riva Gujjan (1:56)

I think the summit here is really about saying, look, we need to talk. We need to set up a regular mechanism to talk. But there's still a lot of distressed between the two sides on the AI dialogue, where China perceives the US calling for guardrails and restraint as just another example of the US trying to technologically contain China.

The US has an interest in getting China to slow its deployment of open source models. Both of these countries want to avoid cyber anarchy.

Luke Wilson (2:28)

Riva Gujong from the Consultancy Rhodium Group. Well, China is investing heavily to compete with the US in the AI race. And much of that is happening far from China's major cities in places like inner Mongolia, where vast new data centers are being built. Our China correspondent Laura Bicca has been to see them.

Laura Bicca (2:47)

To build the infrastructure that is desperately needed for AI in Mongolia is key because it has vast amounts of wind and solar resources. And that's why China has chosen to build its AI data centers here.

At remarkable speed. Buildings have risen out of the farmland in a matter of months, built by construction workers from all over the country.

Faisal Islam (3:16)

This has been a $75 billion investment.

Russ Mould (3:23)

It doesn't do much good for us locals.

Faisal Islam (3:27)

They need educated people.

Russ Mould (3:29)

They don't need that many workers. For me, I can only do some hard manual labor.

Laura Bicca (3:38)

This country has fewer data centers than the US for now. But this hub is a way of catching up.

If China is going to lead the world in artificial intelligence development, this is where it is building the engine room that will drive that change. Just a few months ago, this corner of Inner Mongolia was farmland. Now, dozens of data centers have sprung up for the likes of Huawei and others. There is no sign that China is slowing down on this technology. There has been little opposition to data centers here, unlike in the West. But there are still some quiet skeptics.

Kristalina Georgieva (4:21)

If they demolish the village for a data center, it won't be good.

Faisal Islam (4:25)

I prefer living by the farmland.

Laura Bicca (4:29)

President Xi has set the direction and will feel that in the long term, China can compete with the US on this technology. His government is focused on securing an AI-powered future, even as some of its people wonder whether they'll be part of it.

Luke Wilson (4:45)

The BBC's Laura Bicca reporting from Inner Mongolia.

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