China formally establishes World AI Cooperation Organization with 29 founding members, mostly developing nations

The World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization (WAICO) may prove to be China's most ambitious effort yet to shape the future deployment and governance of AI.

Xi Jinping's Keynote Address

On July 17, Xi Jinping delivered the keynote address at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai, marking the first time China's leader has addressed the event in-person since its launch in 2018. His appearance underscored the growing importance Beijing attaches to shaping the global governance of artificial intelligence (AI).

In his speech, Xi emphasized four observations, including the promotion of "true multilateralism"—language Beijing increasingly uses to justify the establishment of a parallel global order under the Chinese Communist Party's leadership.

Establishment of WAICO

The most consequential announcement of the conference came a day before Xi's speech, with the formal establishment of the World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization (WAICO), to be headquartered in Shanghai.

Building on China's 2023 Global AI Governance Initiative, the idea for a China-led international organization on AI was first proposed by Premier Li Qiang at the 2025 conference and reiterated in the Five-Year Plan (2026–2030) passed in March. WAICO signals China's shift from articulating principles for AI governance to building permanent institutions through which those principles can be operationalized and normalized.

Precisely because it will be a focal point for entrenching China's approach to AI, its potential success as a norms-setting venue risks enshrining digital authoritarian approaches to AI governance.

Founding Members

Twenty-nine countries signed the agreement establishing WAICO on July 16. The founding members were largely from:

• Africa and the Middle East: Algeria, Cameroon, Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Mozambique, Oman, Senegal, and South Africa
• Asia: Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Pakistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan
• Europe: Belarus, Russia, and Serbia
• Latin America: Brazil, Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela

Many of these countries already participate in China's Digital Silk Road, Belt and Road Initiative, or broader digital cooperation programs, which have fueled rising digital repression.

Framing and Strategic Context

In his keynote address, Xi Jinping hailed the establishment of the new organization as "a major move by China to answer the call of the Global South and unite the international community together to vigorously promote AI development and governance."

This framing reflects a broader continuity in China's approach to global digital governance. The stated commitment to Global South partnership and implied win-win cooperation in AI is guided by China's earlier rhetorical framing on "a shared future in cyberspace," which seeks to normalize "cyber sovereignty"—the notion that the digital domain is a natural extension of national sovereignty and that digital governance should be the sole providence of states, unencumbered by international human rights obligations or accountability to independent stakeholders. WAICO risks extending such approaches into the evolving domain of AI governance.

Mechanisms of Influence

Institutions matter not simply because of the ideas they espouse, but because of the mechanisms through which they diffuse tools and shape norms. International organizations create influence by:

• Convening governments
• Training officials
• Developing technical standards
• Coordinating research
• Establishing enduring networks

These activities gradually shape what becomes accepted as international best practice. In that sense, China does not even need WAICO itself to supplant existing fora. China just needs its new organization to become a significant venue for the collective normalization of China's approaches to AI governance. Participating member-countries will then actively promote China's preferred approach at other fora that remain more influential.

Pledges and Initiatives

Xi's keynote outlined areas of priority for Beijing. To "support global AI development and advance global AI capacity building," over the next five years, China pledged to:

• Provide 5,000 AI training opportunities for developing countries
• Establish AI cooperation centers with ASEAN, the African Union, the League of Arab States, the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and BRICS
• Invite 30 countries to use China's AI-powered meteorological warning system, MAZU

These initiatives are more than development assistance. They create channels through which Chinese technologies, regulatory approaches, and standards also become embedded.