(Bloomberg) -- The head of Palantir, the leader of Sequoia Capital and VC Vinod Khosla are among the Silicon Valley heavyweights traveling to Washington this week for a summit on the role of artificial intelligence and national security — an event that will include a private video address from the Taiwanese vice president-elect on the global risks posed by China.

The Hill and Valley Forum, sponsored by a group of VCs including the Peter Thiel-backed Founders Fund, started last year as a secretive confab for tech and political decision makers, and focused on Chinese-owned TikTok. This year, the gathering has become a major event in the world of defense technology – featuring appearances from five senators, US Speaker Mike Johnson and Representative Jay Obernolte, a Republican from California who’s the chairman of the House AI Task Force.

The agenda focuses on the escalating competition between the US and China in areas like artificial intelligence and space. Taiwanese politician Hsiao Bi-khim will address the 400-person audience via a pre-recorded video, speaking about the risks posed by China, according to a copy of the remarks reviewed by Bloomberg.

In Hsiao’s video, which is about seven minutes long, she warns of “China’s authoritarian expansion,” according to the tape. She also advocates for tighter collaboration between Taiwan and the US on technology, defense and manufacturing. She laments America’s industrial capacity, praises the innovation of its private sector, and pitches a closer collaboration between the two countries, according to the video, in which she says she “regrets” being unable to attend the event in person.

China has recently called on the US to rein in support for Taiwan, along with advocating for its own system of government. 

Hsiao is a known quantity in Washington, where she served as Taiwan’s de facto ambassador for years before returning to the island democracy and winning the vice presidency in January. While in DC, Hsiao met frequently with US lawmakers and diplomats, and lobbied for Taiwan’s world-beating chip industry and a greater commercial cooperation between the two countries. Hsiao has been sanctioned by Beijing as China considers her to be a supporter of Taiwan independence.

Her comments at the Hill and Valley Forum come ahead of the new Taiwanese administration’s inauguration in May, and at a time when it’s unclear precisely how China — which views its new president as a “separatist” who wants to disrupt cross-Strait relations — will react. In the past on certain occasions, such as when former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan in 2022, China has buzzed Taiwan with warplanes and launched military drills around the island.

Other speakers at Wednesday’s event will include Palantir Technologies Inc. Chief Executive Officer Alex Karp, Sequoia’s Roelof Botha, and representatives from major AI Startups including co-founders of Anthropic and Scale AI. Topics include the use of AI in the military, the role of software in the Ukraine-Russia war and the implications of AGI, or artificial general intelligence, referring to a powerful type of AI that does not yet exist.

“We’re in a competition with China and AI is an arms race,” said Jacob Helberg, the organizer of the Hill and Valley Forum who serves on the US China Economic and Security Review Commission. “The AI doomsayers have benefited from a lot of oxygen on Capitol Hill, which is steering the conversation toward AI safety and a focus on various risks, which merit attention, but are less important than national security,” said Helberg, who is also an adviser to Palantir’s CEO. 

“We’re helping set the context for how policymakers should be approaching the debate about AI,” Helberg said. “At the end of the day, nothing matters if you’re dead or speaking Chinese.”

Looming tensions between China and the US, plus the increasing importance of AI, has underscored the importance of Silicon Valley’s role in national affairs. That’s even as some worry about the risks and moral implications of using powerful technology in wartime contexts.

The Hill and Valley Forum fits into a larger trend of technologists working to get closer to DC. Companies like Space Exploration Technologies Corp., Palantir and Anduril Industries Inc. have secured significant government deals around national defense. Meanwhile, newer defense tech investors, including Andreessen Horowitz, have increasingly lobbied Washington on behalf of their startups. In addition to Founders Fund, the Hill and Valley event is backed by 137 Ventures and Caffeinated Capital, plus startups Hadrian Automation Inc. and Varda Space Industries. 

Helberg praised recent legislation that will ban the social media app TikTok in the US unless its Chinese owner gives up control of it. He hopes the TikTok decision is the first of a series of milestones for what he called “Team America,” a bipartisan coalition of technologists, officials, staffers and experts to further the use of technology for national security. 

--With assistance from Iain Marlow.

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