Indo-Pacific — 2026-07-24

Xi Unveils World AI Cooperation Organization at Shanghai Conference Targeting Global South AI Governance Leadership

BLUFWAICO gives Beijing a standing institutional vehicle to shape global AI norms through the Global South before Washington fields a competitive multilateral alternative.

President Xi Jinping told the opening ceremony of the World AI Conference in Shanghai on Friday that countries should build a "just and equitable" system of global AI governance and jointly oppose "overstretching the national security concept" in AI 12. He announced the creation of the World AI Cooperation Organization (WAICO), headquartered in Shanghai, with 29 founding member states including Indonesia, Brazil, Malaysia, South Africa, Senegal, Russia and Pakistan 23. Xi pledged 5,000 AI training and seminar opportunities for developing countries over the next five years, new AI application cooperation centers with ASEAN, the African Union, the Arab League, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and BRICS, and access to China's Mazu AI meteorological warning system for 30 countries 14. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet and Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul spoke at the ceremony and endorsed the initiative 12. China's National Development and Reform Commission separately released an eight-point action plan the same day laying out cooperation on research, data, computing power and international AI standards 4.

Analysis
WAICO institutionalizes Beijing's AI-governance bid as a Shanghai-headquartered body with standing membership, moving China from norm-advocacy to organization-building ahead of any comparable US-led framework. The 29 founding members, concentrated in Africa, Southeast Asia and Latin America, give Beijing a bloc it can align at UN AI-governance forums, while the training pledges and Mazu access build dependency relationships that outlast the conference cycle. Whether WAICO converts signatory enthusiasm into binding standards-setting capacity cannot be assessed with confidence, given the absence of any precedent for a China-anchored multilateral tech body achieving operational rule-making.

5 sources

President Xi Jinping Attends the Opening Ceremony of the 2026 World AI Conference and High-Level Meeting on Global AI Governance and Delivers Keynote Address - Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China
Xi calls for equitable global AI governance, unveils new cooperation body - Xinhua
China's Xi Jinping launches new AI alliance: What is it? - Al Jazeera
Xi Pursues AI Governance Leadership at Beijing Summit - Jamestown Foundation
President Xi Jinping Attends the Opening Ceremony of the 2026 World AI Conference and High-Level Meeting on Global AI Governance and Delivers Keynote Address - Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China