[regexorcist]

> there is plenty of reporting suggesting their response will be similar

There is? Xi Jinping himself openly talked very recently about China's commitment to open weights models.

[HDBaseT]

Xi Jinping realizes that open weight models accelerate open development.

There is more players in China than in the US. If everyone keeps learning off each other, eventually one of the China labs will overtake the US, but AI models aren't static (anything but), and the US will leap frog in a weeks time. Therefore the constant need for open weights remains.