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Sylvia Ma

As President Xi Jinping prepares to travel to the United States to meet his American counterpart Donald Trump, attention is turning to the group of business leaders who could join him.
The South China Morning Post previously reported that executives from electric vehicle maker BYD, smart manufacturing giant Xiaomi and battery maker Contemporary Amperex Technology Limited were likely to accompany Xi on the trip – though Beijing has yet to officially confirm the delegation.
What has raised eyebrows, however, is the omission of leaders from China’s frontier AI companies – such as DeepSeek’s Liang Wenfeng and Moonshot AI’s Yang Zhilin – from all reported versions of the delegation.
While it remains unclear who will ultimately accompany Xi, observers offered several possible explanations. These largely centre on protecting leading AI talent amid geopolitical tensions and the different levels of urgency with which Beijing and Washington approach talks on the technology.
“It is to protect them, because their presence at this stage could put them in a difficult position,” said Chen Zhiwu, chair professor of finance at the University of Hong Kong.
Another think tank analyst, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, echoed the sentiment that leading researchers and entrepreneurs in cutting-edge technologies like AI were particularly vulnerable in the current geopolitical climate.
“Travelling overseas could expose them to unforeseen risks, so the absence could be a form of protection,” he said.


By contrast, US AI leaders are expected to have a visible presence, with OpenAI President Greg Brockman and CEO Sam Altman reportedly planning to attend a White House state dinner for Xi.
Reuters reported on Tuesday, citing sources familiar with the matter, that DeepSeek would brief the United Nations Security Council on AI safety risks this week, though company founder Liang did not plan to attend. Other Chinese AI firms including Moonshot AI have also been invited to make statements, according to the report.
Alicia Garcia-Herrero, chief economist for the Asia-Pacific region at French investment bank Natixis, linked the potential absence of Chinese AI players to differences in their respective domestic environments. Washington, she noted, was facing growing domestic opposition and political pressure over the rapid development of the technology.
“China knows the US needs a break – but not China, so Xi does not want to bring its AI team,” she said. “It is quite, quite clear to me.”
In recent weeks, prominent Western tech leaders – including OpenAI’s Altman, Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei and xAI founder Elon Musk – have publicly called for “pacing” the development of frontier AI, citing concerns that its capabilities were advancing faster than the safeguards designed to control them.
Beyond the domestic and geopolitical sensitivities surrounding artificial intelligence, the two delegations could also reflect the priorities agreed to by Beijing and Washington. Alfredo Montufar-Helu, China-based managing director at Ankura Consulting, explained that high-level delegations were subject to bilateral negotiations and mutual agreement.
“Beijing puts forward the initial list, and I’d expect it to favour companies whose business matters to the bilateral agenda or that are directly affected by restrictions, much like the US executives who travelled with Trump to China in May,” he said.
In May, Nvidia’s Jensen Huang, Tesla’s Elon Musk, Apple’s Tim Cook, BlackRock’s Larry Fink and Boeing’s Kelly Ortberg were among the business leaders joining Trump on his state visit.
“But keep in mind that there is still no officially confirmed list of Chinese CEOs,” Montufar-Helu said.


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Beijing has not officially announced details of the delegation, but the leaders of DeepSeek and Moonshot AI are absent from the reported list


Beijing has not officially announced details of the delegation, but the leaders of DeepSeek and Moonshot AI are absent from the reported list.


Why China’s frontier AI pioneers are expected to miss this week’s Xi-Trump summit

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Beijing has not officially announced details of the delegation, but the leaders of DeepSeek and Moonshot AI are absent from the reported list

Beijing has not officially announced details of the delegation, but the leaders of DeepSeek and Moonshot AI are absent from the reported list