China’s top newspaper says AI should not become a ‘monopoly of great powers’ and calls for US-China cooperation on AI risks ahead of Trump-Xi meeting
The ruling Communist Party’s official People’s Daily wrote in a commentary that artificial intelligence should not become a “monopoly of great powers” or an arena for zero-sum competition, while calling for the United States and China to work together on managing AI risks.
The commentary comes ahead of a planned meeting between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping next week, with AI expected to be among the issues discussed as Washington and Beijing navigate tensions over technology and national security.
The People’s Daily said AI is a new area of human development and argued that its progress should be open and inclusive rather than controlled by a small number of major powers.
“Artificial intelligence is a new domain for human development, not a monopoly of great powers, and must not become an arena for zero-sum competition,” the newspaper said in a commentary published under the pen name “Zhong Sheng”, which is often used for views on foreign policy.
The newspaper said China supports open-source development and practices and provides companies, including those from the US, with access to open-source AI models.
The comments come as the US and China remain divided over AI technology, industry practices and national security. Washington has imposed restrictions on exports of advanced AI chips to China, while US officials have accused Chinese entities of seeking access to American AI technology.
More from BusinessThe People’s Daily also criticised US concerns over AI model “distillation”, a process in which the outputs of a larger AI model are used to train a smaller model, potentially reducing the cost and resources needed to develop AI systems.
The newspaper said US companies extensively use distillation and argued that treating the practice differently when it involves Chinese companies amounted to “double standards”.
It further accused Washington of using national security concerns around distillation to seek an advantage in the AI industry.
The US and China are the two major centres of frontier AI development, and their policies are increasingly shaping the global technology landscape. The two countries are expected to discuss AI safety and other technology issues in their upcoming talks.
The debate has also intensified in the US following calls from leading AI executives for greater coordination between Washington and Beijing over the risks associated with increasingly capable AI systems.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has called for US-China coordination on AI safety, while Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has proposed that the two countries agree on limits around the pace of frontier AI development.
Trump has rejected calls for an AI slowdown. In a post on his social media platform, he said the US needed strong leadership rather than additional “guardrails” for AI development and has separately stressed the importance of maintaining American leadership in the technology.
China has also pushed back against calls for slowing AI development. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said recently that what he described as “fear-mongering” around AI could hamper efforts towards global AI governance.
Against this backdrop, the Trump-Xi meeting is expected to provide an opportunity for the two countries to discuss how they approach AI safety, technology competition and potential safeguards against the misuse of AI.
The People’s Daily said China remained willing to hold “constructive and professional” discussions with the US to promote the open, inclusive and broadly beneficial development of artificial intelligence.
(With inputs from agencies.)
