Activity Type: AI Governance Agreement

On July 16, 2026, representatives of 29 countries, including China, Russia, Indonesia, Pakistan, and Brazil, signed an agreement in Shanghai establishing the World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization (世界人工智能合作組織), or WAICO, an intergovernmental body headquartered in Shanghai. According to the agreement, WAICO commits members to a “people-centered approach” to AI governance, language drawn from Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s Global AI Governance Initiative, unveiled in October 2023, which frames Beijing as a champion of developing nations against Western-dominated technology standards. No major Western economy joined WAICO. Wang Yi (王毅), a member of the Political Bureau of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Central Committee and China’s foreign minister, signed on behalf of Beijing, while United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres attended the ceremony. The signing was held on the eve of the 2026 World AI Conference, a forum first held in 2018 and co-organized by China’s National Development and Reform Commission, the country’s powerful central economic planning agency, along with other state bodies. The next day, at the conference’s opening ceremony, Xi urged attendees to help “Global South” countries close the AI “divide.” Xinhua, the state news agency, used the summit to amplify this narrative, quoting Indonesia’s Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs, Airlangga Hartarto, describing AI as “the next chapter” in Indonesia-China cooperation, without independent comment on the terms or implications of Indonesia’s involvement. The 29 founding members were: China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Oman, Algeria, Cameroon, Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Mozambique, Senegal, South Africa, Zambia, Brazil, Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Russia, Belarus, and Serbia.

The 25th Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (上海合作組織), convening in Tianjin on August 31–September 1, 2025, adopted the Tianjin Declaration (天津宣言) alongside a dedicated “Statement on Further Deepening International Cooperation in Artificial Intelligence” (上海合作組織成員國元首理事會關於進一步深化人工智能國際合作的聲明) — one of five thematic statements issued at the summit. Attended by more than 20 heads of state including Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the summit affirmed that “all countries have equal rights to develop and use artificial intelligence” and committed member states to improving the security, accountability, transparency, and fairness of AI systems. The statement invoked the “Shanghai Spirit” (上海精神) — the SCO’s governing motto emphasizing “mutual trust, mutual benefit, equality, and consultation” as a counterweight to what Beijing frames as Western-led hegemonic norms — as the normative foundation for AI cooperation, while pledging to pursue AI that is “open, inclusive, universally beneficial, fair, and for good” (開放、包容、普惠、公平、向善), a formulation echoing Xi’s Global AI Governance Initiative. Member states also committed to developing “trustworthy AI systems” (可信賴的人工智能系統) while “respecting national sovereignty” (尊重國家主權), a phrase that in CCP discourse typically signals state-centered regulatory standards over those that emphasize citizens and other stakeholders. Member states endorsed the Roadmap for the Implementation of the [SCO Member States’ Cooperation Program on Artificial Intelligence Development](http://web.archive.org/web/20251125061238/https://paper.people.com.cn/rmrb/pc/content/202511/20/content30115908.html)_ (上合組織成員國人工智能領域合作發展規劃實施路線圖), agreed in Chengdu on June 12, 2025, and Xi proposed building a joint AI Application Cooperation Center, extending the proposal first floated at the China-SCO AI Cooperation Forum in Tianjin in May 2025.