Key Points
- Chinese President Xi Jinping proposed a global organization to govern artificial intelligence at the APEC summit.
- Xi positioned China as a leader in trade cooperation, filling the void left by U.S. President Trump’s absence from the main summit.
- China is also pushing for “algorithmic sovereignty” with its own AI models and the “free circulation” of green technologies it dominates.
- APEC members approved pacts on AI, and China will host the 2026 APEC summit in Shenzhen.
Chinese President Xi Jinping took center stage at a meeting of APEC leaders on Saturday, where he pushed a proposal for a global body to govern artificial intelligence and positioned China as an alternative to the United States on trade cooperation. These were the first comments from the Chinese leader on an initiative Beijing introduced this year. The United States, in contrast, has rejected efforts to regulate AI through international bodies.
Xi suggested that a “World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization” could establish governance rules and enhance cooperation, turning AI into a “public good for the international community.”
In remarks published by the official Xinhua news agency, Xi added, “Artificial intelligence is of great significance for future development and should be made for the benefit of people in all countries and regions.” Chinese officials have indicated that the organization could be based in Shanghai, the commercial hub.
U.S. President Donald Trump did not attend the APEC leaders’ summit in the South Korean city of Gyeongju, flying directly back to Washington after he met with Xi. The talks between the two leaders produced a one-year deal to partially roll back trade and technology controls that had heightened tension between the world’s two largest economies.
With Trump absent, analysts had expected Xi to use the APEC meeting to promote China as a champion for its own brand of multilateral cooperation on trade and economic development. While advanced chips from California-based Nvidia are key to the AI boom, China-based developer DeepSeek has rolled out lower-cost models that Beijing is promoting in a push for “algorithmic sovereignty.”
Xi also urged APEC to promote the “free circulation” of green technologies —a group of industries, from batteries to solar panels, that China dominates. At the meeting, APEC members approved a joint declaration and pacts on AI and aging populations.
China will host the 2026 APEC summit in Shenzhen, a major manufacturing hub, including robotics and electric car production. Xi noted that the city of nearly 18 million was just a fishing village before it boomed as one of China’s first special economic zones in the 1980s. APEC is a consultative forum of 21 nations representing half of global trade.
