Definitely not (barring some very drastic change in the global situation). The most powerful country in the world couldn’t prevent the Taliban from returning to power in Afghanistan even though they spent many trillions of dollars trying—and Afghanistan’s economy is 6% of 1% of the size of the US economy. Well-funded actors like Moscow and Beijing have some small measure of influence on the US through propaganda (such as Beijing’s efforts to make China appear more powerful than it actually is) and through trying to intensify internal divisions (e.g., by funding extremist groups in the US), but neither can make the US make any important change with anything approaching reliability.
Could China Unilaterally Cause an AI Pause?
Definitely not (barring some very drastic change in the global situation). The most powerful country in the world couldn’t prevent the Taliban from returning to power in Afghanistan even though they spent many trillions of dollars trying—and Afghanistan’s economy is 6% of 1% of the size of the US economy. Well-funded actors like Moscow and Beijing have some small measure of influence on the US through propaganda (such as Beijing’s efforts to make China appear more powerful than it actually is) and through trying to intensify internal divisions (e.g., by funding extremist groups in the US), but neither can make the US make any important change with anything approaching reliability.