China will this week launch the World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organisation (Waico) at the World AI Conference in Shanghai, institutionalising its 2023 governance initiative. President Xi Jinping’s first in-person attendance at the event since 2018 underscores Beijing’s bid to lead global rule-setting for a technology the World Economic Forum estimates could add $15.7 trillion to global GDP by 2030. Waico is designed as a more comprehensive alternative to Western-led bodies such as the OECD’s AI Principles and the G7’s Hiroshima Process, explicitly aiming to include countries that have been left behind and to position Shanghai as a centre for governance experimentation.

The diplomatic offensive is accompanied by domestic regulatory tightening. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology is building a safety benchmark to evaluate generative AI models on content safety, fairness, privacy and other dimensions, covering 31 specific risks. A separate mandatory standard will from January require all new vehicles with intelligent driver assistance to support continuous safety monitoring and remote data management. The move comes as the US Senate Commerce Committee prepares to vote on a bipartisan bill that would ban Chinese connected vehicles and components from the American market, with lawmakers citing risks to sensitive infrastructure and personal data.

The transatlantic and Indo-Pacific responses to China’s tech push are fragmenting. At a smart energy conference in Chengdu, industry figures from Indonesia and the Philippines explored Chinese digital platforms and storage systems to lower high electricity costs across archipelagic grids. Canada and the European Union are actively seeking Chinese electric vehicle investment and technology—a “reverse tech transfer” strategy—while Washington has raised tariffs and erected legislative barriers. In Australia, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will on Wednesday describe AI as an inflection point on par with the renewable energy transition, focusing on safety, workforce trust and datacentre energy demands, after documents showed AI firm Anthropic warning that copyright uncertainty was blocking investment.

Underlying the technology contest is a battle for critical minerals. China’s dominance in processing aluminium, lithium, graphite and rare earths has led analysts in Washington to reframe recycling as a national security priority, reducing dependence on supply chains Beijing controls. The immediate milestones to watch: Xi’s keynote on Friday is expected to detail Waico’s structure; the US Senate committee vote on the Chinese vehicle ban is set for Wednesday; and Canberra’s policy speech the same day will test the political viability of AI guardrails.