Clued-in | AI for good: Major countries should shoulder their responsibility

During U.S. President Donald Trump's visit to China in May, the heads of state of China and the U.S. held constructive exchanges on artificial intelligence (AI) and agreed to launch a government-to-government dialogue on the issue. Yet despite this consensus, some U.S. institutions, technology companies and political figures have recently sought to smear China's AI industry in disregard of the facts, fabricating false narratives and deliberately erecting barriers to cooperation.

Experts interviewed by People's Daily Online said AI is a shared asset of humanity. Strengthening cooperation between China and the U.S. on AI development and governance is not only consistent with the consensus reached by the two heads of state, but also reflects the responsibility of major countries to ensure that AI benefits all mankind.

Hyping up the "China AI Threat" is a new version of the so-called "China threat" narrative

China is now the world's largest holder of AI patents, making it an important engine of global intelligent transformation. According to estimates by relevant institutions, the number of AI companies in China surpassed 6,000 in 2025, with its core AI industry valued at more than 1.2 trillion yuan (about $177.5 billion).

In early May, U.S. journalist Taylor Lorenz exposed that the Build American AI organization hired a professional marketing firm to run a targeted influencer campaign on overseas social media platforms to heavily promote the technological superiority and innovative potential of American AI while smearing China's AI development, portraying it as a multi-faceted threat to U.S. national security, personal data privacy, employment, and even the well-being and safety of young people.

"Such organized smear campaigns against China's AI industry, initiated by U.S. lobbying groups, are one of the tools used to promote 'decoupling' from China," said Lu Chuanying, executive deputy director of the Institute for Cyberspace Governance at Tongji University. Politically, he said, such campaigns aim to push the U.S. government toward tougher sanctions against China. Economically, they seek to undermine business cooperation between the two countries and hinder Chinese companies' access to global markets, thereby protecting the market share of U.S. firms.

Since the beginning of this year, some Western media and think tanks have peddled "China Shock 2.0," claiming that advances in China's high-tech industries threaten global economic development. The U.S. AI company Anthropic has accused Chinese AI firms of "illegally" obtaining its data. Meanwhile, several U.S. Congress members have introduced the Securing Innovation and Research from Adversaries (SIRA) Act, seeking to restrict cooperation with Chinese research institutions through legislation.

From academia and business circles to political arenas, some individuals in the U.S. have continued to devise new ways to discredit China's AI industry. Experts interviewed by People's Daily Online said the U.S. side's narratives are essentially "old wine in a new bottle" — a revival of the so-called "China threat" narrative in the field of AI, driven by concerns over maintaining U.S. dominance in the digital era.

Hyping up the so-called "China threat" is a tactic frequently employed by certain individuals in the U.S., said Li Yan, director of the Institute of Sci-Tech and Cyber Security Studies at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations. According to Li, the U.S. government views competition for leadership in AI as central to maintaining global leadership and geopolitical advantages. Since attempts to block technological and commercial exchanges run counter to the basic law of scientific progress and are difficult to obtain support both within and outside the U.S., some U.S. individuals have shifted their focus to portraying China's AI industry as a threat to U.S. national security. By overstretching the concept of national security, they seek to stir up anti-China sentiment domestically, provide the so-called justification for Washington's containment policies against China, and rally allies to jointly encircle China.

The U.S. has been politicizing trade and sci-tech issues and using them as a weapon and a tool, wantonly setting up technological barriers, seriously hindering the global exchange of knowledge and technological progress, violating the rights of developing countries in pursuing science and technology advancement, and deepening the fragmentation and bloc-based division of global technology governance.

Zhang Linghan, director of the Institute of AI Law and Governance, China University of Political Science and Law, said that the abuse of the concept of security driven by geopolitical factors has severely undermined mutual trust in technology cooperation. The growing militarization and confrontation in cyberspace, coupled with intensified competition over critical information infrastructure, have raised barriers to substantive cooperation among countries on core issues such as security standards, cross-border data flows and risk assessment.

China's solutions to balancing development and security in global AI governance

President Xi Jinping emphasized that AI should be an international public good that benefits humanity. China is willing to engage in extensive international cooperation with countries around the world in this field, strengthen international cooperation and coordination in development strategies, governance rules, and technical standards to promote the healthy and vigorous development of the intelligent industry, and bring greater benefits to people in all countries.

"Global governance rules for AI remain fragmented," Zhang said. The European Union tends to favor strict regulation centered on fundamental rights, while the U.S. emphasizes industry self-regulation aimed at maintaining technological leadership. Developing countries, meanwhile, face an "AI divide" due to limited representation and influence in global rule-making. This deficit has made it difficult to establish unified global standards for risk assessment and interoperability.

China is evolving from an active participant in global AI governance into an important contributor and provider of solutions. China has consistently advocated openness, inclusiveness, mutual benefit and the use of AI for good.

In October 2023, China launched the Global AI Governance Initiative. In 2024, a resolution proposed by China on Enhancing International Cooperation on Capacity-building of Artificial Intelligence was adopted by consensus at the United Nations General Assembly. In the same year, China proposed the AI Capacity-Building Action Plan for Good and for All, which outlined five visions and 10 actions in response to the aspirations of Global South countries. In 2025, China proposed the establishment of the World AI Cooperation Organization (WAICO) and released the AI+ International Cooperation Initiative, contributing Chinese solutions to global AI governance.

AI should not become a game of the rich countries and the wealthy. China's large AI models are helping drive the global open-source ecosystem. A Chinese-Myanmar-English translation system has supported earthquake relief efforts in Myanmar. The "YUKON" intelligent mining operating system has been deployed in Thailand to assist mining operations. The China Meteorological Administration has donated the "MAZU-Urban," an AI-powered early warning system for multi-hazard disaster prevention, to Djibouti and Mongolia. Through its "AI+" actions, China is helping countries, especially those in the Global South, strengthen their technological capabilities, and better share in the benefits of AI development.

Chen Qi, director of the Center for China-US Relation, Tsinghua University, said China has actively shared the outcomes of its AI development and developed localized AI models tailored to the needs and real-world scenarios of Global South countries, helping them build AI capabilities and avoid being left behind in the AI era. In Zhang's view, China's solutions offer Global South countries which seek both technological benefits and effective risk management a third option distinct from the European and U.S. models.

China and the U.S. share responsibility for promoting AI for good

The meeting between Xi and Trump established building a constructive China-U.S. relationship of strategic stability as the new orientation for bilateral ties, providing strategic guidance for the relationship over the next three years and beyond.

This new orientation provides political space for dialogue and cooperation between China and the U.S. on AI technology exchanges and security governance, Chen said. The two sides could jointly explore cooperation in non-sensitive areas, build mutual trust and expand collaboration to ensure that technological development better benefits humanity, Chen added.

Zhang noted that technological advances are outpacing the development of governance mechanisms. Risks associated with generative AI — including misinformation, algorithmic discrimination and potential autonomous risks — are cross-border and systemic in nature. Traditional governance frameworks based on sovereign states are increasingly challenged in responding effectively to such rapidly evolving global technological risks.

No country can be immune from a global challenge such as AI. "AI technologies are closely intertwined with social values and are inherently politically sensitive," Chen said. While huge differences in political systems and governance models make China-U.S. competition and concerns understandable, the two countries, as major AI powers, share common interests and substantial room for cooperation in advancing AI development and governance. They also bear greater responsibility to ensure that AI is for good and for all.

Li said that as AI technologies continue to evolve rapidly, new security risks, including the misuse of large AI models, are emerging, while competition in the field is intensifying. These challenges are shared by all countries. Guided by the vision of a constructive China-U.S. relationship of strategic stability, China and the U.S. should deepen exchanges and cooperation in AI on the basis of mutual trust and work together to build a community with a shared future in cyberspace.

Building a constructive China-U.S. relationship of strategic stability is not a slogan. It means actions in the same direction. Digital dividends should not become digital hegemony, and intelligent revolution should not expand digital divide. History has proven time and again that seclusion and exclusion do harm to others and oneself; only with opening-up and cooperation can a better prospect be embraced.