Chinese President Xi Jinping seized the spotlight at the APEC leaders’ summit on Saturday, proposing the creation of a World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization — a global body to regulate and coordinate AI development — in a move widely viewed as Beijing’s bid to challenge U.S. dominance over emerging technology governance.
Xi’s call, delivered at the meeting in Gyeongju, South Korea, marks his first public endorsement of the initiative unveiled earlier this year.
“Artificial intelligence is of great significance for future development and should be made for the benefit of people in all countries and regions,” Xi said, according to China’s state-run Xinhua agency.
He framed AI as a “public good for the international community” and suggested the organization could be headquartered in Shanghai, positioning the city as a new global center for AI diplomacy.
The timing was no accident. U.S. President Donald Trump skipped the leaders’ plenary session, leaving for Washington after a one-on-one meeting with Xi that produced a one-year agreement to ease trade and technology restrictions — a modest détente in a rivalry that has defined global politics for much of the decade.
Xi’s absence of an American counterpart gave him the stage to promote China’s brand of “cooperative multilateralism” as a counterweight to Washington’s go-it-alone approach.
The proposed AI body underscores China’s ambition to shape the rules of the next technological frontier.
While Washington has resisted binding global regulation of AI, Beijing sees governance structures as a lever of influence — allowing it to standardize norms around data, algorithms, and safety protocols according to its own priorities.
Analysts say China hopes to export its model of “algorithmic sovereignty”, where state control over AI aligns with national security and industrial policy goals.
Beijing’s growing AI ecosystem provides tangible backing for that vision. U.S. chipmaker Nvidia remains indispensable to the global AI boom, but Chinese firms such as DeepSeek are rolling out competitive, lower-cost models optimized for locally produced hardware — a strategy that insulates China from U.S. export bans while advancing its technological self-reliance.
Beyond AI, Xi also urged APEC members to support the “free circulation of green technologies,” referencing sectors from batteries to solar panels — areas where Chinese firms already dominate global supply chains.
The summit concluded with the adoption of a joint declaration and agreements on AI governance and aging populations.
China will host the 2026 APEC summit in Shenzhen, a city Xi described as “a symbol of reform and innovation” that rose from fishing village to high-tech powerhouse in four decades.
By pushing for a global AI body and recasting China as a guardian of open cooperation, Xi is staking his claim to define the ethics and economics of artificial intelligence — and signaling that the contest with the United States has entered a new, algorithmic phase.
