Xi Jinping Advocates Global AI Cooperation at Shanghai Conference

What Happens Next

• →China accelerates AI infrastructure deals with Thailand, Cambodia, and other ASEAN states, bundling AI capacity-building into Belt and Road-adjacent agreements to lock in regional dependency on Chinese AI ecosystems.
• →U.S. Commerce Department and EU Commission fast-track competing AI partnership frameworks targeting the Global South, with particular focus on Southeast Asia, to prevent consolidation of Chinese technical standards in the region.
• →Fragmentation of global AI governance into rival blocs - a China-led multilateral AI cooperation body versus U.S.-aligned frameworks - delays any binding international AI safety or misuse prevention regime by years.

Near-term: China initiates bilateral AI cooperation MOUs with Thailand and Cambodia within weeks, with announced pilot projects in AI-driven agriculture, surveillance infrastructure, or smart city platforms. Long-term: A bifurcated global AI standards landscape emerges, with Chinese-aligned nations adopting Chinese-developed AI safety and interoperability standards while Western-aligned nations coalesce around separate protocols, raising costs and complexity for multinational firms operating across both blocs.