By
Dr.Nadia Helmy
Africa-Press – Mauritius. Chinese Premier “Li Keqiang ”made the call during his speech at the opening ceremony of the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai on Saturday, July 26, 2025, to propose the establishment of an organization to promote global cooperation in the development of artificial intelligence. While not specifically mentioning the United States in his speech at the Shanghai AI Conference, Li warned that “artificial intelligence may become a tool exclusive to a few countries and companies.”
Chinese Minister “Li Keqiang ”made the proposal in a speech at the AI Conference in Shanghai, confirmed by the Chinese Foreign Ministry. Li stressed the need to strengthen coordination among countries to establish a global AI governance framework and rules based on broad consensus while preserving the development and safety of the technology. Li Keqiang emphasized the need for governance and open-source software development, with China officially proposing the establishment of a Chinese-led body for international cooperation on artificial intelligence. Official Chinese warnings that AI development must be balanced against security risks are evident, with China eager to achieve global consensus on this matter despite the intense technological competition between Beijing and Washington. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang emphasized that “the risks and challenges posed by AI have drawn widespread attention to the fact that finding a balance between development and security urgently requires greater consensus from all of society.” The use of AI in all fields has raised major ethical questions, from the spread of misinformation to its impact on employment and the potential loss of technological control.
From my analytical perspective, this Chinese call to establish an organization to promote global AI governance comes as a step that reflects the growing importance of AI globally, with the United States calling, just days before the Shanghai conference, to promote AI technology in the future of the American economy. This is the same call US President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday, July 16, 2025, regarding a massive investment package aimed at supporting energy infrastructure and data centers. This announcement was made during his participation in the first Energy and Innovation Summit, held at Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania. The US announcement coincided with the US announcement that all US companies involved in AI technology would invest approximately $92 billion in data center projects, with an estimated $36 billion invested in data center projects and approximately $56 billion in power generation sites. The US AI Summit was attended by senior executives from BlackRock, Palantir, Antropic, Exxon, and Chevron, with the announcement that this US AI funding will cover the construction of new data centers, power generation, network infrastructure, AI training, and internship programs.
In this context, the Chinese government has developed a National Agenda for AI Technology Development, and China has emerged as a global leader in AI research and development. In 2016, the ruling Communist Party of China released its 13th Five-Year Plan, aiming to make China a global leader in AI by 2030. The Central People’s Government of the Communist Party of China has a list called the “National AI Teams,” which includes fifteen Chinese companies, most notably Baidu, Tencent, Alibaba Group, SenseTime, and iFlytek. Each company is expected to lead the development of a specific AI sector in China, such as facial recognition, software, hardware, and speech recognition. Recently, China launched “DeepSeek,” a Chinese AI application that outperforms “ChatGPT” and has caused a stir in global technology markets.
The Chinese government attaches great importance to artificial intelligence, having included it in the National Strategic Plan since 2016, with the issuance of numerous policies supporting its development. In addition to China’s massive investments in AI technology development, the Chinese government is pumping significant capital into developing AI models and applications, including establishing investment funds for AI startups. The Chinese government is also working to develop infrastructure by building a “National Integrated Computing Network” to enhance AI computing and data processing capabilities. China also aims to use AI to raise the level of industry and improve productivity and economic growth, with a focus on developing AI applications in various sectors, such as smart cities, medicine, and scientific research. Meanwhile, some Chinese companies, such as the Chinese company “DeepSeek,” are developing open-source AI models, contributing to the promotion of innovation in this field.
China seeks to enhance international cooperation in the field of artificial intelligence by sharing its expertise and technological products with other countries, particularly to support its agenda of advancing the developing global South in the face of American and Western technological hegemony.
To compete with China in the field of artificial intelligence, in January 2025, Trump launched Project Stargate, with investments estimated at $500 billion over four years in data centers in the United States, with $100 billion in contributions from OpenAI, Japan’s SoftBank, and the American company Oracle. Trump also reversed policies adopted by the administration of former President “Joe Biden,” which imposed restrictions on the development of powerful artificial intelligence algorithms and restricted exports of advanced technology to some allied countries. Trump is also expected to present his plan to keep pace with the development of artificial intelligence in the face of China’s superiority over American AI technology tactics.
To this end, we note that despite China’s call to establish a new organization to enhance governance in the field of artificial intelligence, the United States has rejected any Chinese proposal in this regard. This is due to previous restrictions imposed by the United States on the export of advanced technology to China, including the latest AI chips manufactured by companies such as Nvidia and chip manufacturing equipment, based on concerns that this technology could enhance China’s military capabilities. Despite these restrictions, China has continued to make strides in the field of artificial intelligence, prompting US officials to request an audit of Chinese AI development equipment and machinery. To this end, Chinese state-led AI investment funds are pumping massive capital into developing AI models and applications, including an $8.2 billion AI fund for startups. China is also adopting a “National Integrated Computing Network” to pool computing resources across public and private data centers.
From the above analysis, we find that the artificial intelligence industry in China is a massive investment, exceeding billions, and is developing at an unprecedented pace, especially since the roots of AI development in China in the late 1970s, following the economic reform policy implemented by former Chinese President “Deng Xiaoping”, which emphasized the role of science and technology as a fundamental productive force within China.
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