(Preview) Xi Jinping Comes to Washington; US-China Agenda, Questions and Expectations; The September Politburo Meeting

The touted US-China AI hotline and trade board remain structurally undefined, while rare-earths friction threatens the Busan truce ahead of Xi's DC visit.

• AI hotline announced but vague: Bessent and Greer reportedly struck a US-China 'hotline' deal on AI safety, pending Trump's thumbs-up before Xi's DC visit, but structure and Chinese-side participants are unknown.
• Who's in the room matters: Bishop says the hotline will be 'fairly useless' if led by China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs rather than officials from the NDRC's AI czarina Huang Ru or the Cyberspace Administration of China.

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