Chinese President Xi Jinping today demanded a new global order for artificial intelligence, explicitly warning nations against prioritizing their own security interests. Speaking at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai, Xi declared AI development must not be a "solo performance" by any single country. This pronouncement signals a clear intent to dismantle national control over critical technologies, pushing for a supranational framework.
Xi's vision is a "symphony of global cooperation," a phrase that echoes the post-national rhetoric of international bodies. He directly opposed "overstretching the concept of national security" in AI, repeating a long-standing complaint against nations protecting their own technological frontiers. This push for shared control comes as American-led restrictions have blocked China from accessing advanced technologies, intensifying the rivalry between global powers.
Eroding National Control
The UN Secretary-General António Guterres attended the Shanghai conference, lending institutional weight to Beijing's globalist agenda. Ahead of the conference, 29 countries, including Pakistan, Russia, and Kazakhstan, signed an agreement with China to establish a World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization. This new intergovernmental body, headquartered in Shanghai, aims to promote "global AI governance," effectively centralizing control away from individual nations. State media explicitly described the organization as an intergovernmental body, solidifying its role in a new international framework that bypasses national sovereignty.
China plans to expand AI cooperation with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the League of Arab States, the African Union, the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and the BRICS countries. This forms a clear bloc against Western technological leadership, seeking to reorient global power dynamics. Xi promised to provide access for 30 countries to a Chinese-developed AI meteorological tool, a strategic move to integrate developing nations into Beijing's technological sphere. Over the next five years, China will provide 5,000 AI training opportunities to developing countries, further solidifying its influence and building a dependent network. Closer partnerships, Xi claimed, can help prevent "historical injustice in AI," a veiled reference to perceived Western dominance.
Building a New Bloc
George Chen, a partner at Washington-headquartered consultancy The Asia Group, views Xi's speech as a signal that China can be a reliable partner to the "Global South," directly challenging American influence. Chen stated plainly that "China will not let America be the monopoly of AI technology," underscoring the competition for global technological control and the ambition to displace existing leadership. The new AI cooperation organization can be viewed as China’s answer to the U.S.-led Pax Silica initiative, which launched less than one year ago. That framework focuses on strengthening collaboration with U.S. allies and partners on AI-related supply chains, with signatories including Japan, the U.K., Australia, the Philippines, Israel, and India.
The Economic Front
U.S. policymakers have already raised concerns over Chinese AI posing an economic threat to the United States. U.S. politicians and several major U.S. AI companies, including Anthropic, accuse Chinese AI models of "illicit distillation" to extract their technologies. This is a direct challenge to intellectual property and national innovation, potentially undermining Western technological advantage. Beijing dismisses these claims as "groundless," but the accusations highlight the aggressive tactics in the global AI race. China’s open-source AI models, like DeepSeek and Moonshot’s Kimi K3, are seen as appealing and often more affordable than U.S. models, especially across the developing world. This economic advantage could displace Western technological exports and influence. Moonshot’s Kimi K3, with 2.8 trillion parameters, claims to be the world’s largest open-source model, directly challenging U.S. rivals. Last month, Chinese AI company Zhipu, or Z.ai, rolled out its GLM-5.2 open-source model, further intensifying the challenge to U.S. firms like Anthropic. Despite the escalating rivalry, China and the United States agreed about 2 months ago to conduct a dialogue on AI development and governance following a visit by U.S. President Donald Trump to Beijing, suggesting a potential for elite accommodation even amidst this struggle for global technological hegemony.