Flashpoints | Diplomacy | East Asia

Keep an Eye on China’s AI Governance Offensive

Beijing’s intensifying efforts to shape international norms on AI are aimed at catching up on the technology and exporting China’s illiberal values.

China’s President Xi Jinping (front center, in blue suit) poses for a group photo with other world leaders at the 2026 World AI Conference in Shanghai, China, July 17, 2026.

Beijing’s intensifying efforts to shape international norms on AI are calibrated to promote itself as a responsible global leader, but they are largely self-serving, aimed at catching up on the technology and exporting China’s illiberal values. Democracies need to get their act together in response.

President Xi Jinping delivered a keynote speech at the 2026 World AI Conference and High-Level Meeting on Global AI Governance on July 17, making the case for the promotion of AI globally “for the positive, for good and for humanity.” He called for “a people-centered approach,” saying that “AI is an important driver for shared prosperity and common security” that required states to join hands “to build a just and equitable system for global AI governance.”

So Xi said all the right words. After all, China has never been short on its rhetoric. At last year’s edition of the conference, Premier Li Qiang made a strong case for global regulations governing AI using language designed to appeal to the Global South.

Noting the vast opportunities and challenges that come from the adoption of new technologies, Xi raised four points on AI development and governance: he promoted openness, collaborating, and sharing; recognized the various risks associated with AI adoption and the resultant need for AI always to be under human control; encouraged inclusiveness and the promotion of mutual learning between civilizations; and called for true multilateralism and an important role for the United Nations as well as a consensus-based governance framework in writing new global rules and technical standards.

His emphasis on international cooperation and openness has definite appeal. But it also appears to be somewhat self-serving, as China still depends on others. Henry Gao, a professor of law at Singapore Management University, said that China “wants access to global models, talent, chips, research, open-source ecosystems and technical knowledge because that is what it needs at this stage.” Alexander Evans, former cyber head at Britain’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office and former adviser to then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson, similarly noted that China needed international cooperation because “no country has complete vertical control.”

Xi’s opposition to “overstretching the national security concept in the field of AI” is a rather brazen effort to target U.S. restrictions on allowing China to access the United States’ AI technology. This is particularly rich considering Beijing’s own role in securitizing crucial assets such as trade, data, finance, markets, and access to rare earths – areas where China has deliberately created........

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