China’s World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization (WAICO) is expanding rapidly, growing from 29 founding members to 38 countries within about a month of its creation. WAICO was established in Shanghai on July 16, 2026, with China presenting it as a framework for international AI cooperation, particularly around access, development, safety, and governance.
A central idea behind the organization is “digital sovereignty”—the principle that countries should have the right to independently choose how they develop and deploy AI technologies. China has also promoted openness, AI capacity-building, and greater participation by developing countries. The approach gives Beijing a way to present itself as an alternative to technology systems dominated by a small number of Western companies and governments.
The development is increasingly connected to the U.S.-China competition over AI. The U.S.-led Pax Silica initiative focuses on secure supply chains involving AI, semiconductors, critical minerals, and technology infrastructure. A draft U.S. State Department letter reportedly warns countries that participation in competing initiatives could conflict with their commitments to the U.S.-led framework, although the draft had not been sent and did not explicitly name China or WAICO.
The broader significance is that AI governance is becoming part of a larger geopolitical competition. Countries in the Global South may increasingly have to balance access to Chinese open-weight AI and infrastructure with cooperation opportunities offered by the U.S. and its partners. The key question is whether WAICO becomes a genuinely broad international AI-governance institution or evolves into a China-centered technology ecosystem competing with Western-led arrangements.
