Chen Zhimin
Vice President, Fudan University; Executive Director, Center for Global AI Innovative Governance (CGAIG); Research Fellow, Fudan University Base of the Shanghai Research Center for Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era
On 26 August 2026, the theory page of People's Daily published an article by Professor Chen Zhimin, Vice President of Fudan University, Executive Director of the Center for Global AI Innovative Governance, and Research Fellow at the Fudan University Base of the Shanghai Research Center for Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, titled “China's Threefold Path in Leading Global AI Governance.” It is reproduced here for readers' reference.
People's Daily, 26 August 2026, page 9.
In his keynote address at the opening ceremony of the 2026 World AI Conference and High-Level Meeting on Global AI Governance, President Xi Jinping called for “adhering to the principle of openness and win-win and boosting innovation-driven development,” “strengthening risk-awareness and ensuring that AI is secure and controllable,” “encouraging inclusiveness and promoting mutual learning between civilizations,” and “advocating solidarity and improving global governance.” Across these four dimensions of development, security, civilization and governance, he provided a systematic answer to a series of major questions bearing on the building of a just and equitable system for global AI governance.
China takes an active part in, and helps to lead, the process of global AI governance, working with all parties to advance the healthy, secure, equitable and orderly development of AI worldwide, and thereby demonstrating the commitment of a responsible major country. We must study and implement the spirit of President Xi's important address in depth, further strengthen the appeal of China's approach to AI governance, the effectiveness of its governance institutions and the enabling power of its governance actions, pool the strength of global co-governance, vigorously advance the inclusive and beneficial development of AI worldwide, and make a still greater contribution to building a just and equitable system for global AI governance.
Guidance by Vision: Setting the Correct Direction for Global AI Governance
President Xi's statement that we should “promote AI globally for the positive, for good and for humanity” offers value guidance for countries around the world as they look past divergent interests toward the widest possible consensus in the field of AI. China's approach to AI governance takes the advancement of humanity's shared well-being as its goal, and safeguarding social security and respecting human rights and interests as its premise. It places the primacy of the human person, the common development of all nations, the safeguarding of universal security, and the coexistence of diverse civilizations within a single governance framework, so as to ensure that AI develops in a direction that favors the advance of human civilization.
Upholding a people-centered approach and development for the positive and for good, treating the advancement of humanity's shared well-being as the fundamental goal of global AI governance. Technological progress can extend human capability and expand the space for development, but growth in technological capability does not automatically translate into universal well-being. How AI is developed, deployed and used depends, in the final analysis, on the value choices and institutional arrangements human beings make. President Xi has emphasized that “AI should be a trusted tool for humanity” and that we must “ensure that AI is always under human control.” This requires respecting the primacy of the human person, and carrying the protection of human dignity, rights and safety through the entire process of research, development and application; algorithmic logic must not be allowed to displace human value judgment, still less may technology become a tool for manipulating society or infringing on people's rights and interests. China's advocacy of development for the positive and for good is meant to set innovation on the correct course, so that technological progress is unified with the all-round development of the human person and the advance of human civilization.
Upholding openness, win-win cooperation and innovation-driven development, giving common prosperity an important place on the agenda of global AI governance. AI carries enormous potential to promote economic growth, improve people's livelihoods and advance sustainable development. At present, the pressing development needs and capability shortfalls of Global South countries in AI call for fuller attention and response. President Xi has emphasized “encouraging open source, openness, collaboration and sharing” so that “all sectors and businesses can benefit from AI.” China has brought the right to development, the right to use and the right to benefit into the agenda of global AI governance, pressing that agenda, even as it takes risk prevention seriously, to give full attention and response to the question of how countries around the world, and Global South countries in particular, can share in the opportunities of development, thereby providing an important source of value support for the equal entry of Global South countries into the age of intelligence.
Upholding fairness, inclusiveness and broad accommodation, treating equal participation and civilizational diversity as an important source of legitimacy for global AI governance. All countries, whatever their size or strength, have an equal right to develop and make use of AI, and should likewise participate on an equal footing in setting the agenda, formulating rules and making governance decisions. What AI processes is not merely data but the languages, cultures, ethics and social experience of different nations. President Xi has observed that “AI development and its application should not erode or undermine the diversity of world civilizations or the uniqueness of cultures of different countries. We must shape the values of AI with humanity's common values, and make good use of AI technologies to increase understanding, tolerance, exchanges, and sharing among all civilizations. We should tend to the garden of civilizations with great care to ensure that the beauty of each civilization is appreciated and shared.” China holds that the national conditions, stage of development and governance choices of every country should be respected; it works both to narrow gaps in infrastructure, technological resources and talent capacity, and to strengthen the representation and voice of developing countries in global governance, so as to avoid creating fresh injustice in the field of AI. This value position, which gives equal weight to fairness of rights, fairness of opportunity, fairness of rules and civilizational diversity, is the concrete expression, in the leadership of global AI governance, of the vision of a community with a shared future for mankind.
Guidance by Institutions: Moving Global AI Governance from Scattered Exploration Toward Coordinated Co-Governance
President Xi has stressed that “AI development should not be a solo performance by a single country, but a symphony of international cooperation.” The effects of AI cross national borders, and its risks propagate from one country to another, such that no state can insulate itself or address these challenges alone. At the same time, AI brings unprecedented opportunities for development that call for shared effort among nations. The international community has already established a series of governance mechanisms in the field of AI, yet the fragmentation of these mechanisms and the serious inadequacy of governance capacity remain conspicuous problems. China has consistently upheld true multilateralism, taking a series of steps to actively advance the building of AI governance mechanisms within the UN system, calling for and helping to bring about the establishment of the World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization, and using standing mechanisms of cooperation to build governance consensus, so as to foster a governance landscape in which the United Nations plays an important role, global and regional mechanisms complement one another, and a diversity of actors participate in coordination.
Bringing the United Nations' role as a principal channel into full play, to uphold the universality, representativeness and authority of global AI governance. The United Nations is the intergovernmental international organization with the greatest degree of universality, representativeness and authority. Supporting the UN's role in overall coordination helps to guarantee that countries, and developing countries in particular, participate on an equal footing in setting the agenda and discussing rules, and helps to uphold the universal application of international rules. Since the launch of the Global AI Governance Initiative, China has promoted the adoption by consensus of a UN General Assembly resolution on strengthening international cooperation on AI capacity-building, has supported the establishment, within the UN framework, of the Independent International Scientific Panel on AI and the Global Dialogue on AI Governance, and has taken an active part in both. Building multilateral platforms for cooperation is intended precisely to convert consensus reached through dialogue into a long-term mechanism, and shared vision into practical results.
Advancing the building of the World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization, to construct an institutional platform for global AI governance. As the world's first intergovernmental international organization dedicated to AI, WAICO follows the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations, upholds the principle of AI for good and for all, embraces the vision of shared consultation, shared contribution and shared benefit, and is open to all countries. Its significance lies in converting periodic conferences and policy dialogue into standing institutional cooperation, and bringing development strategy, governance rules, technical standards, capacity building and joint research into a relatively stable framework of cooperation, thereby providing countries, and Global South countries in particular, with a new institutional platform for sustained participation in governance, for connecting with resources and for carrying out projects. At the same time, building WAICO will provide a useful complement, and strong support, to the existing international mechanisms under the UN framework.
Advancing alignment and coordination among development strategies, governance rules and technical standards, to strengthen the overall effectiveness of global AI governance. The Chair's Statement of the 2026 World AI Conference and High-Level Meeting on Global AI Governance states: “We should accelerate the formulation and revision of security, industrial and ethical standards, and establish a framework of standards and norms that is consensus-based, scientific, transparent and inclusive... We should facilitate mutual recognition of standards among countries, and lower the costs and thresholds of international AI cooperation.” At present, AI governance in every country remains at a stage of rapid exploration, and institutional norms, regulatory paths and technical standards differ from one place to the next, so that alignment must be tailored with precision to the particular circumstances of different regions and countries. China is vigorously advancing the building of AI cooperation mechanisms geared to different regions and countries, and has since 2024 successively established the China-BRICS AI Development and Cooperation Center, the China-SCO Member States AI Application Cooperation Center, and the China-ASEAN Countries AI Application Cooperation Center. International AI application cooperation centers oriented toward the League of Arab States, the African Union and the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States have likewise been incorporated into the plan.
Guidance by Action: Turning China's Positions into Practical Governance Achievements
President Xi has observed that “as a responsible major country, China is always committed to providing international public goods relating to AI.” The vitality of any vision lies in practice, and the effectiveness of governance lies in action. China continually enriches the experience of global AI governance through its own innovative development and governance practice, and, addressing the real needs of the international community, and of Global South countries in particular, provides technology, talent, platforms and application solutions, so as to convert China's positions from stated principles into cooperative outcomes that are perceptible, participatory and sustainable.
Strengthening innovation-driven development and an open ecosystem, to expand global opportunities for AI development. In recent years, China has combined an efficient market with a well-functioning government, strengthened AI science and technology innovation, actively advanced the “AI Plus” initiative, and cultivated a healthy ecosystem in which entities of every kind grow and prosper together. During the 15th Five-Year Plan period, China will accelerate breakthroughs in foundational AI theory and core technologies, and promote the integrated development of model algorithms, AI chips, cloud platforms and scenario-based applications; advance the building of high-quality sectoral datasets, and improve mechanisms for data supply, circulation, utilization and security governance; develop an open-source, open ecosystem to lower the threshold for small and medium-sized enterprises and the broader public to use AI technology; advance the construction of green computing infrastructure, and bring AI's enabling role to bear on energy dispatch, energy conservation, carbon reduction and green transition; and promote the integrated development of education, science and technology, and talent, to lay a solid talent foundation for sustained innovation. With its complete industrial system, ultra-large market and abundant application scenarios, China provides a continuous stream of new open-source technology, market space and cooperative opportunity for AI innovation and development worldwide.
Coordinating development and security, to seek a balanced path for global AI governance. President Xi attaches great importance to coordinating AI development and security, stressing that “we should take seriously the various types of inherent and secondary risks that AI may trigger, put in place laws and regulations, technological monitoring, early warning and emergency response systems in order to strengthen the line of security, prevent abuses and malicious use, and ensure that AI is always under human control. In the meantime, we should jointly oppose overstretching the national security concept in the field of AI and placing one country's security over that of others.” Around new technologies and applications such as algorithmic recommendation, deep synthesis and generative AI, China continually strengthens systems for risk assessment, algorithm filing, content labelling, technological monitoring and emergency response, and explores practices such as classified, tiered regulation, whole-lifecycle governance and agile governance, thereby offering the international community experience and tools it can draw upon to identify risk, clarify responsibility and refine standards.
Advancing capacity building and providing international public goods, to promote equal benefit for Global South countries. In response to the AI capacity-building needs of Global South countries, China has successively put forward, at the United Nations, the AI Capacity-Building Action Plan for Good and for All and the AI Plus International Cooperation Initiative, forming a systematic framework of cooperation around infrastructure, data resources, talent development, application scenarios and governance capacity; it has initiated the Group of Friends for International Cooperation on AI Capacity-Building, pooling resources from governments, international organizations, enterprises and research institutions; it has taken an active part in building the UN-backed Global AI Capacity Development Network, promoting sustained connections between countries' needs and the resources of technology, knowledge, talent and projects, and conducting international exchange and training programs on a standing basis; and it has advanced the rollout of the AI-powered meteorological warning system MAZU in thirty countries, helping the developing world close its capability gaps. From advocacy on the issue, through the design of solutions, to cooperative networks and concrete projects, China is moving capacity building from stated principle to practical measure, using real action to help bridge the intelligence divide and demonstrating the responsibility that a major country bears.
