In a significant move to formalize its influence over the international artificial intelligence landscape, China has officially established the World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization (WAICO). Headquartered in Shanghai, the new entity represents Beijing’s most ambitious attempt to date to shape the deployment and governance of AI on a global scale. The organization was formally established on July 16, with 29 countries signing the founding agreement.
The initiative builds upon China’s 2023 Global AI Governance Initiative and stems from a proposal originally made by Premier Li Qiang at a 2025 conference. The plan was subsequently reiterated in China’s Five-Year Plan for 2026-2030, which was passed in March. By creating WAICO, China is signaling a strategic shift from merely articulating theoretical principles for AI governance to establishing permanent institutions designed to operationalize and normalize its preferred approach.
The list of founding members reflects a heavy concentration of nations from the Global South and those already involved in China’s Digital Silk Road or Belt and Road Initiative. Signatories include Algeria, Cameroon, Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Mozambique, Oman, Senegal, and South Africa from Africa and the Middle East. Asian participants include Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Pakistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. Belarus, Russia, and Serbia joined from Europe, while Brazil, Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela signed on from Latin America.
In his keynote address, President Xi Jinping described the organization as a major step for China to answer the call of the Global South and unite the international community to promote AI development. This move aligns with Beijing’s long-standing rhetorical support for a shared future in cyberspace, which promotes the concept of cyber sovereignty. This doctrine asserts that digital governance should be the sole purview of individual states, free from international human rights obligations or external accountability.
Beyond setting norms, the organization aims to function as a mechanism for diffusing tools and standards. Over the next five years, China has pledged to provide 5,000 AI training opportunities to developing countries. Beijing also plans to establish AI cooperation centers with major regional bodies, including ASEAN, the African Union, the League of Arab States, the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and BRICS. Additionally, 30 countries have been invited to utilize MAZU, China’s AI-powered meteorological warning system.
Critics argue that while WAICO remains aspirational, 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. By embedding Chinese technologies and regulatory standards into the ecosystems of partner nations, Beijing seeks to promote a state-centric model of governance. This approach places governments at the center of the international order, potentially displacing the multistakeholder institutions and human rights safeguards that have traditionally informed global technology policy. International norms are rarely determined by a single declaration or summit. They emerge through the steady accumulation of institutions, standards, technical cooperation, and professional networks. Watching how this institution evolves will be important.
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None of this guarantees that WAICO will become a dominant institution in global AI governance. It remains more aspirational. Even so, when a government whose domestic AI and digital governance approach has consistently normalized digital authoritarian practices seeks to influence the international institutions that may shape the future technologies that govern our lives, it demands heightened caution.
