During his visit to the US, Xi Jinping said “We do not need to avoid mentioning competition, but our competition should be a healthy one and should be kept within bounds. It should be a race of catching up with one another, not a wrestle in which one either wins or loses.”

In other words, it “must be constructive and bounded—akin to a race in which each side strives to outdo the other, rather than a zero-sum struggle in which one side’s gain is the other’s loss.”

The difference is fundamental. A race is measured by speed, innovation and performance. Runners can both improve, the loser is not destroyed. A fight for supremacy is zero-sum: one side’s victory requires the other’s subordination or defeat. Beijing projects quiet confidence that it is positioned to win the technological race, particularly in artificial intelligence, advanced manufacturing, critical minerals, and related dual-use fields. China’s scale in industrial capacity, social cohesion, talent pipeline, and state-directed investment underpins that self-assurance. Officials and industry voices increasingly treat technological leadership as the decisive arena of the 21st century. Washington, by contrast, projects less certainty even as President Trump issues characteristically bombastic claims about American strength. Public and private assessments reveal eroding confidence in unchallenged military superiority, in the Middle East and especially in the Asia-Pacific, where Chinese advances in missiles, ships, sensors, and anti-access systems have narrowed long-standing U.S. advantages. The same anxiety appears in technology: export controls and industrial policy reflect a recognition that primacy is no longer automatic. Xi’s visit is taking place against this backdrop of underlying tension which is temporarily mitigated by trade truce extensions, talk of strategic stability, and mutual professions of friendship. The Chinese side continues to insist the two countries can be partners rather than rivals and that national rejuvenation and “making America great again” need not be mutually exclusive. Whether Washington accepts the distinction between a race and a fight for supremacy will shape the years ahead more than any summit declaration. @LauraRuHK