China has launched the Global Artificial Intelligence (AI) Governance Initiative, aiming to promote an open, inclusive, and fair approach to the development, security, and governance of emerging AI technologies and services. This move contrasts with the US’s restrictions and blockade aimed at preserving its hegemony.
Despite China’s emphasis on fairness and non-discrimination in AI development, the US has intensified unilateral restrictions over normal global cooperation in AI and other technologies. Western countries have also sought to set rules for AI, primarily aimed at protecting their own interests. China’s proposed solution for global AI governance, announced at the third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, exemplifies its openness and inclusiveness in global cooperation and development.
China has launched an initiative to address global concerns over AI development and governance. The initiative aims to respect other countries’ national sovereignty and abide by their laws when providing AI products and services. It opposes using AI technologies for manipulating public opinion, spreading disinformation, intervening in other countries’ internal affairs, social systems, and social order, and jeopardizing the sovereignty of other states.
The initiative calls for the establishment of a testing and assessment system based on AI risk levels and the improvement of relevant laws, regulations, and rules to ensure personal privacy and data security. It also urges adherence to fairness and non-discrimination principles, avoiding biases based on ethnicities, beliefs, nationalities, genders, etc. China’s cooperative approach fosters development and technological innovation among participating countries in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
China’s AI governance initiative comes amid the US intensifying its arbitrary restrictions on normal cooperation in AI chips and other technologies. The US tightened export restrictions on artificial intelligence-related chips and semiconductor manufacturing equipment to China, adding several Chinese entities to the “entity list” of export control.
The Chinese Commerce Ministry firmly opposes and deplores the US’ abuse of export controls and unilateral bullying tactics, urging the US to immediately drop such restrictions and take all necessary measures to safeguard its legitimate rights and interests. Chinese experts noted that this approach is not conducive for global AI governance, which should include input from all countries and regions. The US’s unilateral restrictions and competition among Western countries to write definitive AI rules are not conducive to promoting scientific and technological progress in various countries.
China’s proposal for AI rules suggests that all countries, regardless of their capabilities, should be able to participate in setting rules, rather than being spectators or forced to abide by others. This approach differs from the West’s emphasis on strong participation, which emphasizes the participation of the strong.
The Global AI Governance Initiative at the Belt and Road Initiative (BRF) demonstrates China’s commitment to win-win cooperation in both traditional projects and technological development with all BRI partners. Countries are hoping that China will play a greater role in promoting technological cooperation in Asia and beyond, as it is also promoting economic cooperation, specifically technological exchanges. Kariat Sarybay, secretary-general of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measure in Asia, hopes that China can help in this regard.
