China and Zambia Co-Host UN High-Level Meeting on International Cooperation in AI Capacity-Building

On September 25, 2024, the governments of China and Zambia jointly hosted the High-Level Meeting on International Cooperation on Capacity-Building of Artificial Intelligence (人工智能能力建設國際合作高級別會議) on the margins of the general debate of the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi (王毅) attended and addressed the event alongside Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vučić, Indonesia’s Coordinating Minister Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, Zambia’s Minister of Technology and Science Felix Mutati, and UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed, with high-level representatives from more than 80 countries and international organizations participating. The meeting was convened as a follow-up to UN General Assembly Resolution A/RES/78/311 on “Enhancing International Cooperation on Capacity-Building of Artificial Intelligence” (關於加強人工智能能力建設國際合作的決議), which China had tabled and which passed by consensus in July 2024 with 143 co-sponsoring states. In his remarks, titled “Promoting Development for All and Bridging the AI Divide,” Wang announced China’s AI Capacity-Building Action Plan for Good and for All (人工智能能力建設行動計劃), a ten-point program organized around five areas: AI and digital infrastructure connectivity; model development and application cooperation; talent development and AI literacy; data construction and security governance; and AI safety and controllability. Wang also promoted Xi Jinping’s Global AI Governance Initiative (全球人工智能治理倡議), first proposed in October 2023, as the normative framework for international AI cooperation, framing it as a multilateralist alternative to what he characterized as hegemonic governance — specifically rejecting “using a single set of values as the sole standard for AI governance.” He proposed that China and Zambia co-establish a Group of Friends for International Cooperation on AI Capacity-Building (人工智能能力建設國際合作之友小組) at the United Nations to advance implementation of the resolution and the action plan. In CCP diplomatic discourse, “friendship” generally carries political expectations of accommodation of China’s core interests.