Chinese President Xi Jinping used his keynote address at the 2026 World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) in Shanghai to deliver what amounted to a declaration of AI independence. Attending the event for the first time, Xi announced an “AI Made in China” strategy, showcasing the country’s technological achievements amid sustained US export restrictions and framing China’s open-source AI models as a principled alternative to the United States’ proprietary, access-controlled approach. The speech marked a significant escalation in the geopolitical framing of the global AI race.
“A Symphony, Not a Solo Performance”
The rhetorical centerpiece of Xi’s address was his insistence that AI development must be a global, cooperative endeavor rather than a unilateral exercise of technological power. According to Modern Diplomacy’s analysis of the speech, Xi declared: “The development of AI should not be a solo performance by one country but a symphony achieved through international cooperation.” The metaphor was pointed: it positioned China as a conductor seeking harmony while implicitly casting the United States as a soloist attempting to dominate the stage.
Xi also directly addressed US export controls, stating that China “jointly opposes the excessive expansion of the concept of national security in the AI field.” The remarks were widely interpreted as a critique of Washington’s use of chip export restrictions and AI model access controls as instruments of geopolitical competition.
By framing these restrictions as an illegitimate overextension of national security logic, China is seeking to build international consensus against the US approach, particularly among developing nations with limited access to advanced AI technologies. This follows the establishment of the World AI Cooperation Organization, signed by 29 countries in Shanghai, which aims to set global AI standards outside the US-dominated framework.
Showcasing Technological Self-Reliance
The WAIC exhibition floor served as a tangible demonstration of China’s progress toward AI self-reliance. Despite US efforts to restrict access to advanced semiconductors, Chinese companies showcased a comprehensive range of domestically developed AI technologies: Huawei’s Atlas 950 SuperPoD computing cluster, Enflame’s supernode systems, Dongfang Suanxin’s DF1000 chip delivering 520 TFLOPS of BF16 computing power, and a full ecosystem of foundation models, AI agents, and humanoid robots.
Xi highlighted that the scale of China’s core AI industry has already surpassed one trillion yuan and that “Zhongguo Zhizao”, Chinese-style smart manufacturing, has become a new calling card of Chinese modernization. This framing is designed to demonstrate that export controls have not halted China’s AI ambitions but have instead accelerated its drive for self-sufficiency. The message to the US is clear: the strategy of technological containment is not working, and China is prepared to build and lead its own AI ecosystem.
Open Source as Geopolitical Strategy
The most strategically significant element of Xi’s address was the explicit endorsement of open-source AI as a vehicle for global influence. By supporting the development and distribution of highly capable open-weight models, including those from DeepSeek, Moonshot AI, and Alibaba, China is pursuing a strategy of technological democratization that directly challenges the proprietary model favored by leading US firms.
This approach is particularly effective in the developing world, where the cost of accessing premium US AI services is prohibitive. By offering powerful, customizable AI tools at low or no cost, China can build deep technological dependencies and goodwill across Asia, Africa, and Latin America. The “AI Made in China” declaration is not merely a statement of domestic achievement; it is a blueprint for expanding China’s global AI influence through openness rather than exclusivity.
Building the Institutional Architecture of a Parallel AI Order
Beyond the rhetoric, Xi’s speech was accompanied by concrete institutional announcements that signal China’s intent to build a parallel global AI governance architecture. The World AI Cooperation Organization (WAICO), founded at WAIC with 29 member countries and headquartered in Shanghai, is designed to serve as an alternative to US-led AI governance bodies. China pledged 5,000 AI training slots for developing countries over the next five years, and announced that its MAZU meteorological AI system, a large-scale weather forecasting model, would be shared with 30 countries.
China also announced the establishment of International AI Application Cooperation Centers with ASEAN, the Arab League, the African Union, CELAC (the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States), the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and BRICS. The breadth of these partnerships reflects a deliberate strategy of building AI relationships across the Global South, regions where US technology companies have historically had less penetration and where Chinese AI tools are increasingly competitive on cost.
The attendance of UN Secretary-General António Guterres, Thailand’s Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, and Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar at the conference underscored the international legitimacy China seeks to project for its AI governance agenda. Xi’s call for a “people-centered approach” and opposition to “technological monopolies” is a direct appeal to nations that feel excluded from the benefits of AI development dominated by a small number of US companies.