Xi Jinping Attends the World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) for the First Time: AI Development Should Not Be a Solo Performance by a Single Country

Chinese President Xi Jinping attended the opening ceremony of the 2026 World Artificial Intelligence Conference and High-Level Conference on Global Governance of Artificial Intelligence, delivering a keynote speech in which he cited the Chinese saying: "A single string cannot make music, nor can a single tree form a forest." He noted that AI development should not be a solo performance by one country, but a symphony of global cooperation, and called for open source, openness, cooperation and sharing to enable all industries to leverage AI. Xi also stressed the need to ensure AI remains under human control, urging countries to establish legal and regulatory frameworks, technical monitoring mechanisms, risk early warning systems and emergency response systems to prevent AI abuse. He further opposed the overgeneralization of the national security concept and the practice of prioritizing one’s own country’s security over that of others, adding that AI should not undermine the cultural identities of various countries or the diversity of world civilizations. China will cooperate with Asian, African, Latin American and BRICS nations to help developing countries build AI capabilities and avoid AI-driven new global inequalities. The China-US AI competition is expanding from chips and models to open source paths and global rule-setting.