Question: In recent years, China has successively proposed the Global AI Governance Initiative and the AI Capacity-Building Action Plan for Good and for All, while advocating international cooperation on AI capacity-building under the framework of the United Nations to help Global South countries board the fast train of scientific and technological progress. Why does China attach such great importance to AI capacity-building for Global South countries?
Embassy Spokesperson: At present, global AI development remains markedly unbalanced. Many developing countries face evident shortcomings in computing infrastructure, data resources, talent cultivation and industrial application. If such gaps continue to widen, the AI era may give rise to new technological divides and development gaps, further aggravating the imbalance and inadequacy of global development.
Global modernisation should not be an exclusive “solo performance” by a few countries, but rather a “grand chorus” of common development for all. By proposing the Global AI Governance Initiative and the AI Capacity-Building Action Plan for Good and for All, China seeks to help more developing countries strengthen capacity-building, share the opportunities brought by the intelligent era, and ensure that AI truly becomes a new engine for common development.
In recent years, via multilateral platforms including the UN, China has actively promoted international cooperation on AI capacity-building. During the Multi-stakeholder Forum on Science, Technology and Innovation for the Sustainable Development Goals, China hosted a thematic meeting of the Group of Friends for International Cooperation on AI Capacity-building, calling for closer cooperation in AI education and training, joint research and development, technology transfer, and talent cultivation. In so doing, China aims to promote greater participation of developing countries in the global AI development process on an equal footing. This fully demonstrates China’s consistent commitment to linking its own development with the common development of the world, and to acting as a contributor to global development and a champion of South-South cooperation.
Meanwhile, China has actively advanced the Belt and Road AI Science and Technology Innovation Cooperation Plan, launched the Engineering Capacity Building for Africa Programme, and strengthened cooperation with developing countries in digital infrastructure and smart capacity-building. These efforts represent not only an important practice of South-South cooperation, but also concrete actions to implement the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
China always believes that truly sustainable development is not about creating technological dependence, still less technological monopoly. Rather, it is about helping countries strengthen their capacity for independent development and fostering endogenous drivers for innovation and sustainable growth. China stands ready to work with all parties to uphold openness and inclusiveness, pursue mutual benefit and win-win cooperation, and ensure that the benefits of AI development better reach Global South countries and the broader developing world.
