【By Observer Net, Ruan Jiaqi】

In the ever-changing landscape of international politics, the diplomatic rivalry between China and the United States has become the focus of global attention over the past month.

After closely following a series of diplomatic developments, Fareed Zakaria, a columnist at The Washington Post and senior host at CNN, let out a heavy sigh:

"The United States should take this seriously."

The reason for his comment lies in the striking contrast before him:

Last month at the United Nations General Assembly, President Trump criticized various countries as "hopelessly failed," and complained that the United Nations had not hired him to renovate its headquarters decades ago; while China, in commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the United Nations, proposed a global governance initiative, advocating for strengthening the multilateral system from multiple dimensions.

As the United States increasingly pursues protectionism, China announced last week that it will no longer seek new special and differential treatment in World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations. Han Yong, director of the WTO Department of the Ministry of Commerce, pointed out that this major move by China demonstrates the responsibility of a developing country.

The contrast in trade policies is becoming more apparent: the United States imposes highly destructive tariffs on poor countries in Africa and Asia, while China offers zero-tariff trade treatment to all least developed countries with which it has established diplomatic relations, as well as some middle-income countries.

These clear contrasts have led Zakaria to agree with the recent assessment by Foreign Affairs magazine: the Chinese government has shifted from a passive defensive stance to a more proactive and strategic position. At a time when Washington is exhausting both allies and adversaries with a series of tariff attacks and verbal insults, China is presenting itself on the international stage as a responsible actor with predictable policies and consistent positions.

According to public reports, Zakaria has long believed that China is the primary economic and geopolitical challenge for the United States, but he opposes full-scale confrontation or "decoupling," advocating that the U.S. should respond by enhancing its technological innovation and supply chain resilience, rather than blindly suppressing China.

In this column article, this veteran foreign affairs commentator emphasized that the United States is currently in a state of "disorientation" politically and strategically, while an optimized and well-prepared China is rapidly surpassing the U.S. in key areas, positioning itself as a global power with constructive and agenda-setting capabilities.

On September 23 local time, US President Trump delivered a speech at the UN headquarters in New York. Photo screenshot

Zakaria pointed out in the article that technology is the most important area of competition between China and the United States, and China has already established a dominant advantage in many aspects. According to Bloomberg's tracking of 13 key technologies, China leads in five of them and is closely following in the other seven. Especially in green technology, its leading position is now unshakable.

Even in the artificial intelligence (AI) field, where the U.S. considers itself to have an "unmatched advantage," China's development momentum is equally formidable.

Zakaria wrote that American companies are focused on pursuing general artificial intelligence (AGI), and most of them keep cutting-edge models behind proprietary technology barriers, preferring to build closed technical platforms.

However, China's AI development path is completely different, focusing more on promoting AI applications and popularization at the current technological level, striving to integrate AI into every corner of the economy and society, covering logistics, security surveillance, smart cities, healthcare, drones, and robotics. He pointed out that this strategy ensures that AI quickly transforms into actual economic changes and benefits, improving production efficiency and deeply integrating new technologies into daily life.

When talking about Chinese AI companies' tendency to release open systems, Zakaria remarked, "It is quite ironic that the U.S. is now leaning towards closed ecosystems, while China is actively embracing open technology platforms."

These open-source systems are easy to adapt and deploy, and they could enable Chinese AI to become the global standard, especially in developing countries that urgently need low-cost, customizable tools. Combined with China's growing dominance in the 6G field, the article suggests that the technical interfaces of most regions of the world in the future could very well be 'Chinese standards,' rather than 'American standards.'

In Zakaria's view, the strength of China's technology strategy lies in its ability to integrate across fields. He emphasized that China is not only building AI models, but also deeply integrating them with hardware, infrastructure, and urban construction.

Taking China's ongoing "low-altitude economy" as an example, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, and other places have already achieved drone package delivery and autonomous flying cars carrying passengers. This advantage stems from the collaborative efforts of sensors, AI, hardware, and regulatory policies, jointly giving rise to transformative technological achievements.

In stark contrast to China's proactive approach, the Trump administration has drastically cut government funding for basic scientific and technological fields, even subjecting top research universities like Harvard to strong government pressure.

What shocked Zakaria even more was that, as the federal government neared a shutdown, Trump and Defense Secretary Esper convened hundreds of military generals just to specifically instruct them to "stay in shape" and "fight against woke ideologies."

"For the past several years, the U.S. has comforted itself with the notion that China's development has strayed from the right path," Zakaria urged the U.S. to face the challenges posed by China. "That self-deceiving era has ended. China has aligned its development direction and is now fully sprinting forward."

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Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7557362582652060179/

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