Question: On 24 April, the Financial Times and other UK media outlets reported that a White House memo accuses Chinese entities of industrial-scale theft of US AI technology. What’s the Embassy’s comment? 

Embassy Spokesperson: A spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has already responded to this matter. I want to reiterate that the US claims are entirely groundless and amount to smears against the achievements of China’s AI industry. China firmly rejects such claims. 

China’s progress in AI is the result of its own sustained efforts. Today, China has the largest number of AI patents and over 6,200 companies in the sector, making it an important engine of global smart transformation. In recent years, China has put forward the Global AI Governance Initiative and the AI+ International Cooperation Initiative, with a view to making AI a truly inclusive and beneficial international public good. These efforts reflect China’s commitment to openness, fairness and cooperation, and contribute a Chinese solution to global governance.

The US has used technological issues as a political tool and overstretched the concept of security to attack and discredit China’s AI industry and suppress its high-tech development. Such actions are wrong and unpopular. They are detrimental to the healthy development of the global AI industry.

We urge relevant media outlets to uphold journalistic ethics, stop spreading and hyping unfounded allegations against China, refrain from aiding and abetting wrongdoing or fuelling confrontation, and report on China in an objective and impartial manner.