How Does Xi Jinping View AI Governance?
An Interpretation of Xi's Remarks at the 2026 World Artificial Intelligence Conference and High-Level Meeting on Global AI Governance
Today, Xi Jinping delivered a speech at the 2026 World Artificial Intelligence Conference. Below are some of my readings:
How historical narratives reveal Chinese decision-makers’ angle:
At the beginning of his speech, Xi placed AI in the historical narrative of technological revolutions, from the steam engine to electricity to the internet. This framing also reveals how China’s leaders view AI as a major technological revolution that is usually accompanied by a restructuring of the international order.
Britain, the dominant power of the steam age, was eventually surpassed by the United States during the Second Industrial Revolution. The United States’ victory in the Cold War-era technological competition likewise reflected its dominance in information technology. Under such a background, China’s approach to the AI-driven industrial revolution is shaped by a strong sense of urgency, perhaps even FOMO.
China has emphasized science and technology as productive forces since the Deng Xiaoping era, especially through the slogan that “science and technology are the primary productive forces.”科技是第一生产力, but this was largely the mindset of a latecomer trying to catch up after falling behind. In the 1990s, the internet revolution was still led mainly by the United States in terms of technology. China got on board and built globally competitive companies, but much of its innovation remained concentrated at the application layer.
AI may be different. China’s technological gap with the United States has narrowed to roughly six months. (Although given the speed of AI development, six months can still be a substantial distance) More importantly, the technological trajectory has not yet been fully blocked. China still sees an opportunity to compete, and potentially to catch up.
This sense of urgency is also evident in Xi’s speeches at the National Science and Technology Awards Conference, the Academicians’ Conference of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering, and the 11th National Congress of the China Association for Science and Technology. (yes, three meetings in one) Throughout that speech, he focused on the bottlenecks and weaknesses in China’s scientific research system. One line stands out in particular:
The situation urges us forward and compels us to act. We must seize the historic opportunity, meet the challenges of the times, and accelerate the achievement of high-level scientific and technological self-reliance and self-strengthening.
形势催人，也逼人。我们必须抓住历史机遇，迎接时代挑战，加快推进高水平科技自立自强，
My reading is that this was a direct message to experts across different fields: the window of opportunity will not remain open indefinitely.
Returning to the WAIC speech itself, its tone was relatively restrained. Its main ideas can be summarized in four points.
First, open source, openness, and cooperation. Xi encouraged open-source development and international cooperation, while arguing that AI is moving from the “digital world” into the “physical world.” This both reflects China’s comparative advantage in open-source foundation models and helps offset barriers created by closed-source ones. It also suggests that policy attention may increasingly shift toward embodied AI, intelligent manufacturing, and other real-economy applications.
Second, safety and controllability. The statement that AI must “always remain under human control” is broadly consistent with international consensus. (unless someone really wants a Ghost in the Shell-style society). But the second part of the argument is more politically pointed: China opposes the “overgeneralization” of national security concepts in AI and rejects the idea that one country’s security should be placed above others'. This is clearly an implicit criticism of U.S.-led technology restrictions and export controls.
Third, the relatively softer language of “mutual learning among civilizations.” In a bit of substance, however, this is also about who gets to shape the values embedded in AI systems. Whether AI serves a particular set of values defined by a small group of countries, or different societies should have a role in defining AI governance and norms.
Fourth, improving global governance. Xi emphasized AI capacity-building for countries in the Global South, rather than allowing a small circle of technologically advanced countries, like those involved in the G7 Hiroshima AI Process, to set the rules for everyone else.
I know many will say that China is just saying fancy words. But does anyone really expect China to frame its position the same way as the US does? Just putting its own interests above all others?
World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization(WAICO)
The institutional development that took place the day before the conference is also significant. Representatives from 29 countries signed the Agreement on the Establishment of the World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization in Shanghai, formally creating an intergovernmental organization: the World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization, or WAICO. Its headquarters will be located in Shanghai.
The founding members are mainly countries from the Global South, with no G7 members, core EU countries, or Five Eyes members involved. This suggests the emergence of a parallel governance framework outside the existing Western-led system—one promoted by China and centered on developing countries. On this point, I also want to recommend reading the excellent piece by George Chen
WAICO’s core mission appears to include four main areas:
Building a cross-border AI supply-and-demand platform, allowing countries with AI capabilities to connect directly with countries that need technology, infrastructure, or applications.
Carrying out capacity-building and inclusive-development programs to narrow the global AI divide.
Promoting coordinated governance on AI safety, cross-border data flows, and ethics, while jointly developing internationally applicable technical standards for large language models, humanoid robots, and related technologies.
Supporting open source and the sharing of scientific resources in order to lower the barriers to AI research and development for smaller and less-developed countries.
For the Global South, the most immediate problem is often not AI safety, but the lack of basic capacity to develop and deploy AI in the first place. Without such capacity, these countries risk falling even further behind in the next technological revolution.
Institutionally, WAICO adopts a structure consisting of a General Assembly of all members, a council, and a permanent secretariat. It explicitly rejects a single-country veto, highlighting a principle of “development first” rather than governance focused solely on regulation and risk control.
WAICO could give China greater influence over technical standards and create a stronger ecosystem pull for its AI industry. At the same time, it will need to address questions of funding, long-term sustainability, and the balance between promoting development and managing risks.
Overall, the agreement suggests that global AI governance is entering a period of dual-track development. The U.S. and its partners emphasize values alignment, security, and export controls; China emphasizes development, capacity-building, open cooperation, and the broader diffusion of technology.
Below are Xi’s full remarks :
Working Together to Build a Fair and Equitable Global Governance System for Artificial Intelligence
Keynote Address at the Opening Ceremony of the 2026 World Artificial Intelligence Conference and High-Level Meeting on Global AI Governance
(July 17, 2026, Shanghai)
Xi Jinping, President of the People’s Republic of China
Distinguished Colleagues and Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen, Friends:
Seventy years ago, a group of young scholars first put forward the concept of artificial intelligence at the Dartmouth Conference in New Hampshire, United States. Over the past seven decades, AI scientists and developers around the world have continued to explore the unknown, press forward through twists and turns, and achieve breakthroughs through perseverance. Seventy years on, facing a new wave of vigorous AI development, we have gathered here on the banks of the Huangpu River to discuss together how to promote the development of global AI in a direction that is oriented toward good and benefits humanity—a gathering of great significance. On behalf of the Chinese government and the Chinese people, I extend a warm welcome to all of you.
Looking back at history, the invention of the steam engine ushered in industrial civilization, the spread of electricity illuminated modern society, and the birth of the Internet connected the entire world. Every technological revolution has profoundly reshaped the way humanity produces and lives, propelling great leaps in economic and social development.
Today, the world is undergoing accelerating changes unseen in a century, a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation is achieving breakthroughs at a faster pace, and global AI innovation has entered a period of unprecedented dynamism. Intelligent technologies—featuring the intelligent connection of all things, human-machine collaboration, cross-domain integration, and co-creation and sharing—are releasing enormous energy in combination, presenting both tremendous opportunities and governance challenges. Humanity must now confront the questions of our times: When machines begin to think, how should humans coexist with them? When algorithms take part in decision-making, how can safety be ensured? When technology challenges ethics, how can governance keep pace? When the divide keeps widening, how can inclusive benefits be achieved? These questions require the international community to reflect deeply and answer together.
China believes that all countries should uphold a people-centered vision and the principle of AI for good, making artificial intelligence an important driving force for promoting common prosperity and safeguarding common security, and work together to build a fair and equitable global AI governance system. To this end, I wish to propose four points.
First, upholding openness and win-win cooperation to drive innovation and development. Artificial intelligence is a new engine of world economic growth and an accelerator for the transition from old to new drivers of growth, and it is moving from the “digital world” into the “physical world.” We should seize this rare historic opportunity, encourage open-source practices and openness, cooperation, and sharing, and comprehensively promote AI-related scientific and technological innovation, industrial development, and application scenarios. We should work in concert to advance the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries, foster and strengthen emerging industries, and make forward-looking plans for future industries, so that AI can empower every industry and sector.
Second, strengthening risk awareness to ensure safety and controllability. Artificial intelligence should become a trustworthy tool for humanity. We must attach great importance to the various inherent and derivative risks arising from AI, and promote the development of systems for laws and regulations, technical monitoring, risk early warning, and emergency response, so as to build a firm foundation of safety, guard against misuse and malicious use, and ensure that AI always remains under human control. At the same time, we should jointly oppose practices in the AI field that overstretch the concept of national security or place one’s own security above the security of other countries.
Third, encouraging inclusiveness to promote mutual learning among civilizations. The development and application of AI should not erode or damage the diversity of world civilizations or the cultural distinctiveness of individual countries. We should shape the values of AI with the common values of humanity, make good use of AI technology to enhance understanding and tolerance among different civilizations, promote exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations, and carefully cultivate a flourishing garden of civilizations in which each appreciates its own beauty and all beauty is shared.
Fourth, advocating solidarity and cooperation to improve global governance. Artificial intelligence is the crystallization of the wisdom of all humanity and a precious asset shared by all. We should practice true multilateralism, give full play to the important role of the United Nations, and strengthen alignment and coordination on AI development strategies, governance rules, and technical standards, so as to form at an early date a global governance framework based on broad consensus and enable this frontier technology to better benefit human society. We should carry out extensive international cooperation to help countries of the Global South strengthen capacity building, bridge the digital and intelligence divide, promote sustainable development, and avoid creating new historical injustices in the field of AI.
Ladies and Gentlemen, Friends!
This year marks the beginning of China’s 15th Five-Year Plan. The 15th Five-Year Plan draws the blueprint for China’s economic and social development over the next five years, and also offers a list of opportunities to the international community. In recent years, China has actively embraced AI development, adhering to the combination of an effective market and a capable government, strengthening AI scientific and technological innovation, and vigorously advancing the “AI Plus” initiative, cultivating a healthy ecosystem in which all kinds of actors coexist and prosper together. The scale of the core industries of the intelligent economy has already exceeded one trillion RMB. All manner of intelligent devices have entered millions of households, delivering tangible benefits to people’s lives, and “Intelligent Manufacturing in China” has become another shining hallmark of Chinese modernization.
At the same time, China has always placed equal emphasis on development and security, grasping the trends and laws of AI development, and continuously improving relevant laws and regulations, policies and institutions, application norms, and ethical guidelines, to ensure that AI is safe, reliable, and controllable—so that this thousand-li steed of artificial intelligence can gallop both fast and steady.
As a responsible major country, China has always been committed to serving as a provider of international public goods in the field of AI. Since I put forward the Global AI Governance Initiative, China has promoted the adoption by consensus of the UN General Assembly resolution on international cooperation for AI capacity building, released the AI Capacity-Building Action Plan for Good and for All and the “AI Plus” International Cooperation Initiative, and proposed the establishment of the World AI Cooperation Organization—contributing a steady stream of Chinese solutions.
As the Chinese often say, a single string cannot make music, and a single tree cannot make a forest. The development of AI should not be a solo performed by any one country, but a symphony of global cooperation. Through the joint efforts of all parties, the World AI Cooperation Organization has come into being in Shanghai—a vision conceived a year ago has now been transformed into a tangible outcome. This is a major step by China in responding to the call of the Global South and rallying the international community to actively advance AI development and governance, and it will stand as an important milestone in the history of AI development.
To further support global AI development and advance global AI capacity building, I hereby announce that over the next five years, China will provide 5,000 places in specialized AI training programs for developing countries; build international AI application cooperation centers for ASEAN, the Arab League, the African Union, CELAC, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and the BRICS countries; and promote the deployment of “Mazu,” the intelligent meteorological early-warning solution, in 30 countries—watching over the lights of countless homes and safeguarding calm across the four seas.
Ladies and Gentlemen, Friends!
As the ancients said, “The wise adapt to the times; the knowledgeable act according to circumstances.” The more rapidly AI technology advances, the more firmly we must anchor its direction toward good and the benefit of humanity, the more precisely we must calibrate the scale of regulation and governance, and the more promptly we must improve measures to prevent loss of control. We must always guide the development of AI with human wisdom and international consensus, so that it truly becomes a powerful positive force for enhancing the well-being of all humanity and advancing the progress of human civilization.
China stands ready, with a more open posture, more practical actions, and a more far-sighted vision, to work with all parties to grasp and address the opportunities and challenges of AI development, and to join hands in creating an even brighter future for human society!
Thank you.