Has the era of AI cooperation arrived? Chinese President Xi Jinping intends to take center stage at the APEC summit, an economic meeting between leaders of the Asia-Pacific region, after achieving some successes and a fragile trade truce with his American counterpart, Donald Trump. To maintain the diplomatic initiative, he proposed in particular the creation of a global body aimed at regulating artificial intelligence.
This initiative, introduced by Beijing this year, aims to position China as an alternative to the United States in terms of trade cooperation and technological governance. Xi Jinping highlighted the role of AI as a “public good for the international community”, highlighting its “great importance for future development” and its potential to serve the people of all countries.
A new international organization located in Shanghai?
Chinese officials have indicated that the organization could be based in Shanghai, a major economic center. In Trump’s absence, the Chinese president took the opportunity to promote China as a defender of his vision of multilateral cooperation, particularly in terms of trade and economic development.
China is already preparing to host the 2026 APEC summit in Shenzhen, a major production hub for robotics and electric vehicles. Xi Jinping recalled that Shenzhen, today a metropolis of 18 million inhabitants, was just a fishing village before its meteoric rise as a special economic zone in the 1980s.
While details about the future international organization on AI have yet to leak, Beijing has also addressed other technological issues. China thus highlights its strategy of “algorithmic sovereignty” in AI: given the dominance of Nvidia’s advanced chips, the Chinese DeepSeek has launched less expensive models, adopted by Beijing to support the national development of artificial intelligence.
The country has also encouraged APEC to promote the “free circulation” of green technologies, a sector in which it already largely dominates, particularly for batteries and solar panels. For Beijing, APEC, which brings together 21 nations that represent half of world trade, constitutes a strategic forum to strengthen its economic and technological influence on an international scale.
A not so disinterested look
But for the rival United States, these discussions and proposals are not purely selfless. By offering a “new voice” in international diplomacy, Beijing aims to establish itself as one of the world’s technological leaders and improve the image of “made in China.”
At the same time, China is betting on DeepSeek artificial intelligence to modernize its army and rethink what it calls “the war of the future.” The P60, presented in February by Norinco, illustrates this strategy: this autonomous military vehicle, capable of moving at 50 km/h, shows Beijing’s willingness to integrate AI directly on the battlefield.
According to Reuters, analysis of patents, research papers and purchasing records reveals a systematic effort to weaponize AI, with advances in autonomous target recognition and real-time decision support. DeepSeek thus becomes the central engine of next-generation weapons, embodying China’s quest for this “algorithmic sovereignty” and its desire to free itself from Western technologies while transforming combat planning and execution.
Source: BFM TV
