Despite the hype surrounding China’s artificial intelligence capabilities, progress remains heavily dependent on theft and smuggling. The Chinese Communist Party , meanwhile, is determined to maintain tight control. That has become increasingly clear ahead of this week’s Beijing summit between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping. The Chinese leader wants to lead the world in what he terms an “epoch-defining technology.” He appears confident that Trump, preoccupied by his war against Iran, has limited options to counter Beijing’s increasingly brazen activities. Last month, the White House accused Beijing of “industrial-scale” theft of know-how from American AI labs. Meanwhile, US prosecutors claim to have busted an international smuggling ring that funneled advanced chips worth billions of dollars to China in defiance of sanctions. The CCP is also stepping up efforts to protect China’s own AI innovation, blocking a $2 billion takeover by Meta of a Chinese AI start-up called Manus.…