BEIJING: Chinese President Xi Jinping took centrestage at a meeting of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) leaders on Saturday to push a proposal for a global body to govern artificial intelligence and position China as an alternative to the United States on trade cooperation.

The comments were the first by the Chinese leader on an initiative Beijing unveiled this year, while the US has rejected efforts to regulate AI in international bodies.

The Apec is a consultative forum of 21 nations representing half of global trade, including the US, China, Russia and Japan. The summit, hosted by South Korea this year, unfolded under the shadow of rising geopolitical tensions and aggressive economic strategies — ranging from US tariffs to China’s export controls — that have pressured global trade.

Xi said a World Arti­ficial Intelligence Coope­r­ation Org­an­isation could set governance rules and boost cooperation, making AI a “public good for the international community”.

Positions Beijing as an alternative to Washington on trade cooperation

In remarks published by the official news agency Xinhua, Xi added: “Artificial intelligence is of great significance for future development and should be made for the benefit of people in all countries and regions.”

Chinese officials have said the organisation could be based in the commercial hub of Shanghai.

US President Donald Trump did not attend the Apec leaders’ summit in the South Korean city of Gyeongju, flying back to Washington directly after a meeting with Xi.

The two leaders’ talks yielded a one-year deal to partially roll back trade and technology controls that had spiked tension between the world’s two biggest economies.

While advanced chips made by California-based Nvidia are central to the AI boom, China-based developer DeepSeek has rolled out lower-cost models taken up by Beijing in a push for what it calls “algorithmic sovereignty”.

Xi also urged Apec to promote the “free circulation” of green technologies, a cluster of industries from batteries to solar panels that China dominates.

Apec members app­roved a joint declaration and pacts on AI and the challenge of ageing populations at the meeting.

China will host the 2026 Apec summit in Shenzhen, a major hub for manufacturing, from robotics to electric car production. Xi said the city of nearly 18 million had been a fishing village until it boomed as one of China’s first special economic zones in the 1980s.

Published in Dawn, November 2nd, 2025