How many wars were started over tensions concerning research centers / science? WW1 was started by an assassination, WW2 by an aggressive annexation of countries and race-based extermination.
If China and the US go to war, it'll probably be over aggression in North Korea; not over a corporately funded scientific research center.
The parent comment is not claiming that war will start because of a research lab. (S)he is saying it is against the interest of the US to start an AI lab there because AI will be critical to the war effort if there is war.
Maybe that Google sets up an AI lab is not in the interest of the US, but it is in the interest of Google.
Google is a multinational company and its employees come from diverse countries. Although it is headquartered in the US and its founders are American citizens, its core interests may not fully align with the core interests of the US.
If China and the US go to war, it'll probably be over aggression in North Korea; not over a corporately funded scientific research center.