China urges global AI cooperation, not rivalry, ahead of Xi-Trump summit

China’s science and technology minister Yin Hejun has called for global cooperation to manage the opportunities and risks posed by artificial intelligence, as Beijing and Washington face renewed trade and tech tensions ahead of a planned meeting between their leaders later this month.

Speaking at the G20 Innovation Ministerial Meeting held in the United States, Yin said the development of AI and other emerging technologies had entered an “unprecedentedly active” period, with opportunities and challenges coexisting, according to a statement published on the website of China’s Ministry of Science and Technology on Wednesday.

“There is an urgent need for countries to work together to address them,” Yin was quoted as saying in the statement. The G20 gathering was held from Monday through Tuesday.

Yin’s remarks come as AI and other advanced technologies have become increasingly entangled in the broader rivalry between the world’s two largest economies, with Washington weighing further restrictions that could hamper China’s technological ambitions.

The US has already rolled out a series of measures affecting Chinese tech products, including restrictions on foreign-made advanced drones, robots and connected power inverters. In response, Beijing has tightened export controls on dual-use drone technology.

But the recent flare-up, wrote a group of Citi Research analysts led by Yu Xiangrong in a research note last month, was “unlikely to materially disrupt China’s AI exports”. The analysts explained that direct US-China trade in the sector was “already suppressed at the aggregate level, limiting the potential first-order impact of further restrictions”.

Meanwhile, Washington is currently mulling potential restrictions on Chinese data centre equipment and open-weight models.