China Publishes Global AI Cooperation Plan

China announced two AI policy documents in Shanghai on July 17: an action plan for international cooperation and development in AI, and an action plan for global AI ethics governance. Both were unveiled alongside the World AI Conference (WAIC) and its accompanying high-level meeting on global AI governance.

The cooperation and development plan was issued jointly by China's National Development and Reform Commission along with other ministries. The second document, on ethics, was drafted under the joint leadership of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology together with other participating parties. Both are policy declarations rather than binding international treaties.

Eight Areas of Action

The cooperation and development plan lays out actions across eight areas: data sharing, computing power, building technology ecosystems, strengthening industry, talent development, creating shared rules and standards, and AI governance and ethics. The document explicitly calls for 'broader access to high-quality data' for international partners, particularly in developing countries.

Alongside the plans, China released the third edition of its collection of case studies on international AI cooperation, featuring ten stories of projects carried out with foreign partners.

A Symphony, Not a Solo

Xi Jinping used his conference address to criticize US export restrictions limiting China's access to advanced chips and AI technology. China's leader spoke of Washington's 'overstretching' of national security concerns as a pretext for blocking a rival's technological development.

AI development should not be a solo performance by one country, but a symphony of global cooperation. - Xi Jinping, President of China

Concrete commitments made during the speech included the aforementioned 5,000 AI training slots spread over five years, and giving 30 countries access to China's AI-powered weather system for early warning of weather-related hazards.

Institutional Context

The day before the two plans were published, on July 16, 29 countries, including Russia, Pakistan and Kazakhstan, signed an agreement in Shanghai establishing the World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization, a new intergovernmental body headquartered in the city. The new action plans build on that initiative with a concrete substantive program.

Chinese commentators cited by local media stress that the document aims to build a cooperation model based on the idea of 'AI for the common good' rather than technological rivalry. Zhou Mi of the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation said the plan is meant to establish a model and philosophy of AI cooperation grounded in the common good, while Pan Helin of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said the document positions artificial intelligence as a global public good.

What It Means for the Rest of the World

For developing countries, the target audience of most of the concrete commitments, Beijing's offer represents an alternative to the US AI ecosystem, which is becoming harder to access because of export controls on advanced chips. For the European Union and Poland, the document is above all a signal that competition for regulatory and infrastructural influence in AI is shifting toward the Global South, where Brussels has yet to put forward a comparably concrete offer.

The plans include no enforcement mechanisms or budget, setting them apart from the EU's AI Act or US export programs. They are more a declaration of direction and an invitation to further bilateral agreements, whose details are to be worked out in the coming months.