So the choice is: negotiate an unverifiable treaty (I.e. there's no way to verify compliance), or keep going as you are and try your best to not cause the destruction of humanity without slowing down.
The China argument is just a convenient scapegoat to convince the public that this isn’t just about greed.
For example, we don’t know if the pace of Chinese development of AI would have equal to what it is now if US companies weren’t racing against each other already.
I do fully believe that Chinese industry is lead by a desire to out pace the west. But I’m not convinced the same is true for the most American private entities. I think the reward model is different between businesses in America and businesses in China. I think the ambitions of CEOs is different. And I’m really not convinced that the CEOs of America are nearly as patriotic as they like to promote themselves to Trump and other political parties.