Signal U.S. to Tell Allies They Must Pick Sides in AI Race With China: Reuters

Summary

According to a Reuters exclusive citing an internal draft, the U.S. State Department has prepared a letter to send to the 35 signatories of a June 'AI Opportunity Statement,' warning that countries which also join China's competing AI framework will be excluded from a U.S.-led AI coalition. The coalition stems from the 'Pax Silica' initiative launched last year to secure supply chains for AI models, semiconductors and critical minerals, which has already attracted roughly two dozen members including Japan, Australia and South Korea, as well as Kazakhstan, which has also joined China's rival framework. Reuters could not determine when the undated draft letter would be sent or whether it might be revised beforehand. The State Department declined to comment on 'purportedly leaked internal documents,' while China's embassy in Washington said it opposes 'politicizing trade and technology issues' and warned such actions 'will only stifle global AI advances.' The push comes as Chinese open-weight AI models have been rapidly narrowing the gap with proprietary U.S. systems from companies such as OpenAI and Anthropic. The story was first reported around August 14-15, 2026.