VOA Today's Focus (September 15, 2026) "Trump-Xi Summit" to Focus on AI, President Trump: "Whoever Wins AI Wins"

This episode of VOA Today's Focus mainly reports on the United States hosting the G20 energy meeting in Houston, Texas to address the Middle East crisis, with Chinese and American enterprises signing a major liquefied natural gas deal; Trump reiterating the U.S. lead over China in artificial intelligence and the game before the US-China summit; an analysis of the technological impact of a U.S. Navy unmanned underwater vehicle being captured by Iran in the Strait of Hormuz; and global hotspot news such as the U.S. sending senior officials to attend the 13th Beijing Xiangshan Forum.

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Welcome to VOA Today's Focus for September 15. I am Fan Dongning, broadcasting live from Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States. Every day, we take 15 minutes here to help you quickly grasp the latest developments in the U.S. and around the world. Here is today's focus news.

The United States hosts the Group of 20 energy meeting, focusing on the Middle East crisis and global energy security. On the eve of the Trump-Xi summit, China has unexpectedly signed an agreement to purchase U.S. liquefied natural gas. President Trump emphasized that the U.S. must maintain its lead in artificial intelligence, and whoever wins AI wins the victory. The Middle East conflict has driven up global energy prices, and the U.S. hosted the G20 energy meeting on Monday in Houston, Texas, focusing on how to expand energy supplies and lower oil prices.

The G20 energy meeting opened on Monday in Houston, Texas, U.S., and will run through Wednesday. As the host, the U.S. has made energy sufficiency and access to affordable, reliable, and secure energy the priorities of the meeting. U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum are expected to attend, alongside representatives from major economies and oil-producing countries including China, India, Japan, Germany, Canada, and Saudi Arabia. As the war in the Middle East impacts global energy markets—affecting domestic U.S. oil prices and sending the average price of diesel to a record high of about 6.20 U.S. dollars per gallon—Europe is also facing pressure to replenish natural gas inventories before winter. With the participation of major economic and oil-producing countries, all parties will discuss how to increase energy supplies, stabilize markets, and mitigate the impact of the Middle East crisis on global consumers and economy.

U.S. liquefied natural gas exporter Venture Global announced on Monday that the company has signed an agreement with Chinese natural gas supplier China Gas Holdings, under which China Gas will purchase liquefied natural gas from Venture Global with an annual procurement volume of 500,000 tons for a supply period of 20 years, effective starting in 2030. According to a press release issued by Venture Global, this agreement brings the total long-term procurement volume between Venture Global and China Gas to 2.5 million tons per year. Under the agreement, Venture Global will supply 500,000 tons of liquefied natural gas annually to China Gas on a free-on-board delivery basis through its project portfolio for a 20-year term. This agreement was reached ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping's anticipated visit to Washington, D.C., the U.S. capital, on September 24 for a heads-of-state summit with President Trump. China Gas is one of China's largest cross-regional integrated energy service and supply enterprises, and Venture Global has currently become one of the largest liquefied natural gas exporters in the United States.

And just as the US-China summit is about to take place, President Trump reiterated that the United States must lead China in the field of artificial intelligence. President Trump once again emphasized the necessity for the U.S. to become the world leader in AI on Sunday. Meanwhile, the industry has raised warnings about potential security risks brought by the rapid development of AI. Amodei, the head of U.S. artificial intelligence company Anthropic, warned that AI could spin out of control and bring risks, calling for strengthened safety regulations, restrictions on exporting advanced AI chips to China, and independent institutions to evaluate the potential dangers of AI systems. OpenAI head Sam Altman also urged that the development speed of AI's technical capabilities must not surpass the capacity for AI safety monitoring and governance. Regarding the industry's calls, President Trump stated that we can establish safety guardrails, but there are many negative voices that should not be raising this question. President Trump posted on Truth Social on Monday that some people have hatched a conspiracy regarding artificial intelligence and data centers, and the only ones happy about this are in China. Outside observers generally believe that artificial intelligence will become one of the topics discussed when President Trump meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping later this month. President Trump emphasized that whoever wins artificial intelligence wins the victory, we are leading China in artificial intelligence, we are the most advanced country in the world, and frankly, I want to maintain this advantage because whoever wins artificial intelligence wins the victory.

Regarding the upcoming US-China summit which will focus on the issue of artificial intelligence, Xu Yuren, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, stated in an interview with Voice of America that the U.S. and China will have very serious dialogues regarding the potential risks posed by AI, and President Trump may also express dissatisfaction directly to Xi Jinping regarding U.S. industry allegations that China stole U.S. AI models through distillation technology, and ask for his explanation. China stealing cutting-edge U.S. models through this distillation method—regarding this part, I think this is something that U.S. commercial entities and these cutting-edge model laboratories are very concerned about, and they may request President Trump to directly express dissatisfaction to Xi Jinping about this matter. The second part is that regarding issues related to cybersecurity, cyberattacks, and cyber defense, the two sides might establish a so-called guardrail mechanism, meaning whether it is possible that when an AI agent crosses a red line, there must be firebreaks, a so-called switch-on switch-off mechanism, to prevent the AI agent from taking over the entire system.

Xu Yuren, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute who has long followed artificial intelligence issues, received visiting Taiwan Digital Minister Lin Yijing last Friday in Washington, D.C., and proposed establishing a trustworthy AI mechanism between the U.S., Taiwan, and other democratic allies. Let's listen to the expert's statement. Every iteration of trustworthy technology between Taiwan and the U.S.—through such iterations, both sides can perhaps form a so-called trustworthy mechanism targeting certain sensitive industries, such as national defense cybersecurity or even finance, and then develop their model within a controllable range. Through this Taiwan-U.S. cooperation mechanism, an effective scope can be restricted, meaning relevant classified data can be trained within it, and after this training, it can be used within a controllable range. Through this mechanism, a so-called trustworthy AI supply chain can be formed, which I think is something both sides can consider, and by means of such an AI supply chain mechanism, it can also be promoted to applications for other similar allies.

In addition to the issue of artificial intelligence, President Trump also answered reporters' questions aboard Air Force One on Sunday, stating that almost all issues will be discussed when meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, including whether to allow Chinese automobiles to enter the U.S. market. Stawell, who served as Assistant Secretary of State during Trump's first term, told VOA that President Trump is accustomed to first making demands far higher than the final goal, and then trading for the desired results through negotiations. This high-balling approach makes it difficult for Beijing to cope. On the eve of the US-China summit, Stawell shared with VOA...

We analyzed the secret recipe of President Trump's negotiations with China, and let's listen to what David Stilwell has to say together. Let me tell you what I understand about President Trump's negotiation style. He is undoubtedly the most brilliant negotiator. He knows how to strive for progress, and he also knows how to make high demands. He will not directly put forward our requests, but will first demand conditions far exceeding our expectations, and then through negotiations, he can pull the conditions back to the level we truly want. I think we have caught the Chinese side and Xi Jinping somewhat off guard, because we have never done this before, and in the past, they were basically able to take whatever they wanted from us. We were indeed not a strong negotiator in the past, so this is his secret. One aspect that needs improvement is strategic communication—explaining to the American public what the purpose of this trip is, what outcomes we hope to achieve from the Chinese side through this visit, and what goals we are trying to achieve in May. In this regard, I would suggest releasing more summaries of talks and fact sheets, telling us what happened and telling us your intentions as much as possible, but you cannot say everything, because if you reveal your strategy, you will lose your negotiating leverage. I think both the Secretary of State and the new White House spokesperson should speak out more actively to reassure the American public that the situation is moving in the right direction.

The U.S. military uses the Dive LD unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) made by the American company Anduril in the Strait of Hormuz to perform unmanned maritime surveillance, seabed mapping, and anti-mine warfare, while Taiwan also uses this UUV in the waters surrounding Taiwan to inspect undersea cables and prevent deliberate sabotage by the Chinese side. Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced last week that it had captured this UUV, but experts said the technical information Iran can obtain from this captured, malfunctioning UUV and share with Russia and China is limited. Please watch the TV report by Voice of America reporter Liu Enming. The U.S. military uses the Dive LD UUV made by Anduril in the Strait of Hormuz to perform unmanned maritime surveillance, seabed mapping, and anti-mine warfare, and this UUV has also been used in the waters surrounding Taiwan. According to reports by Taiwan media, Taiwan's National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology received the Dive LD UUV system from Anduril this August, and first applied it to undersea cable inspection capabilities to prevent deliberate sabotage. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps announced on September 8 that it had captured a U.S. UUV at the entrance of the Strait of Hormuz and published images of the UUV, which matched the Dive LD UUV made by Anduril after comparison. U.S. Central Command stated that this UUV had malfunctioned more than a day before it was discovered by Iran, and the UUV belonged to an older model, neither collecting sensitive data nor carrying any classified sonar or radar equipment. Professor Kevin Rowlands, editor at the Royal United Services Institute, said in an interview with Reuters that UUV manufacturers and the U.S. side should have already formulated relevant protocols to ensure that once the equipment falls into enemy hands, the most critical technology cannot be used. For Iran at this stage, the hardware might be of greater value, and the engineering technology used in these systems exceeds Iran's current capabilities. Iran does indeed possess a large number of drones, has also provided drones to Russia for use in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, and is adept at using unmanned systems, but in terms of propulsion, guidance, maneuverability, depth control, and specific communication technology, Iran's technological level may not be as advanced as the U.S. system. Therefore, through reverse engineering, they might gain a deep understanding of the U.S. technical path and begin to copy it. If Iran chooses to share these technologies with Russia or China—and we know such relationships do exist between them—then neither the U.S. nor the rest of us will likely be able to prevent this technology spillover outside of Iran. According to Anduril, the Dive LD is a large-diameter autonomous underwater vehicle, 5.8 meters long and 1.2 meters in diameter, capable of autonomously executing missions lasting up to 10 days, with a maximum diving depth of up to 6,000 meters. The shell uses 3D printing technology to achieve a high degree of customizability, and adopts innovative manufacturing processes for internal core structural components and buoyancy systems, allowing it to be custom-modified to fit different types of payloads and sensors, applicable to defense or commercial operations, and Anduril also provides enterprise leasing options. Whether in the short or long term, I do not think this will cause a huge impact. In any conflict, we should expect system losses, destructions, or captures; we just need to accept this, view it as part of conventional warfare, and deal with it calmly. According to reviews by Jane's Defence Weekly and Taiwan media reports, Taiwan's National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology is cooperating with Anduril to adapt and customize the Dive LD for Taiwan's needs, integrating multi-frequency scanning capabilities to detect mines and submarines, making it a highly customized UUV. Voice of America reporter Liu Enming reporting from Washington.

The 13th Beijing Xiangshan Forum opened in Beijing on Tuesday, and the Pentagon confirmed to Voice of America that the United States will send a high-level delegation led by senior officials for China, Taiwan, and Mongolian affairs to attend. Xanchia Zahndra Callas, Principal Director for China, Taiwan, and Mongolian Affairs in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, will represent the United States at the 13th Beijing Xiangshan Forum. The Pentagon confirmed this news to Voice of America on Monday, but did not specify whether Callas will hold bilateral talks with Chinese Defense Minister Dong Jun or other People's Liberation Army officials. This year's Xiangshan Forum will be held in Beijing from September 15 to 17, with the theme of "Consolidating Consensus for Stability, Promoting Security Governance Together." The Chinese Ministry of Defense stated that nearly 100 countries, regions, and international organizations will attend the forum. That is all for today's VOA Focus. Thank you for watching, and see you tomorrow.