From the time when humans took a sturdy log and turned it into a cudgel, up to artificial intelligence, every technological advance has been used for weapons, such as gunpowder, originally intended only for fireworks.
So today, the desire to transform artificial intelligence as the asset of all humankind is clashing with those warlike cravings that humankind has been expressing for millennia, in a mad race to eliminate its neighbors. Instead, cooperation among states in order to ensure benefit for the whole world should be a priority.
In our previous article, we discussed the $600 billion project that the United States of America is developing to counter the alleged threat of differing levels of technology development between Beijing and Washington, in which the People’s Republic of China is excelling with extraordinary results.
It is precisely the U.S. that is highlighting China’s record. Recently, the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), a nonprofit U.S. think tank based in Washington, D.C, focused on public policy related to industry and technology, released a report stating that a 20-month survey conducted by the organization on the People’s Republic of China’s innovation capabilities, in ten fields of advanced technology, showed that Beijing has become a world leader in innovation in nuclear energy and electric vehicles; meanwhile in four fields, including artificial intelligence (AI) and quantum technology, it does not differ much from world leaders. Due to the dual driving force of cost advantages and growing innovation capacity, more and more Chinese companies are gaining a global reputation.
The U.S.-based website “Interesting Engineering” pointed out that these results unequivocally show that the People’s Republic of China attaches much more importance to innovation than in the past and has made considerable progress in improving its innovation capabilities, thanks to the science and technology policies formulated by the government.
During 2024, ITIF conducted an in-depth analysis of the innovation capabilities of 44 Chinese companies from the fields of robotics, chemical materials, nuclear power, semiconductor, display technology, electric vehicles and batteries, artificial intelligence, quantum computers, biopharmaceuticals and machine tools.
The report found that China is at the forefront in nuclear energy, at the same level as the world in electric vehicles and batteries, and close to the advanced level in robots, displays, artificial intelligence and quantum computing. In the electric vehicle sector, China’s production of electric vehicle batteries accounts for 77 percent of the world’s total production. China is also the world’s largest producer and seller of electric vehicles. Last year, BYD–China’s automotive brand–sold three million electric vehicles, nearly double the global sales of Tesla. Chinese electric car manufacturers are leading the way in areas such as autonomous driving technology.
The report affirms that quantum technology is not only of great importance to national security, but also has the potential to have a transformative impact on the economy and society. In terms of quantum communication, China occupies a dominant position globally. The opening of the world’s first secure quantum communication backbone network, the Beijing-Shanghai Trunk Line, and the launch of the Quantum Science Experimental Satellite MoZi are the best evidence. In terms of quantum sensing, China is more or less on par with the United States of America. In the field of quantum computing, although Beijing has a slight gap, it is working hard to catch up.
The report in addition shows that in terms of research achievements in generative artificial intelligence, the People’s Republic of China and the United States of America are on par, contributing thousands of articles and exploring the endless possibilities of artificial intelligence.
However, China still has room for improvement in the number of article citations. Although China’s artificial intelligence ecosystem is maturing rapidly, it still faces significant challenges. In terms of private investment in artificial intelligence, U.S. companies have attracted more venture capital and launched more innovative artificial intelligence models. However, this gap is expected to narrow as foreign investors (including Saudi Arabia) begin to appreciate the enormous potential of Chinese artificial intelligence development.
The report also points out that until recently China was only considered to be at the forefront of innovation, but in recent years this has changed significantly. Beijing has become the world’s second largest economy, and the Chinese government and enterprises have increased investment in research and development of high-value technologies. The continued progress of China in innovation is due to well-determined science and technology policies.
Also Interesting Engineering reported that based on these policies, China’s executive has prioritized the development of education in science, technology, engineering and mathematics; made every effort to establish world-class research institutes and industrial technology parks; provided funding, subsidies and tax incentives for scientific research; and encouraged public-private cooperation to jointly build an innovation ecosystem.
The report additionally points out that China science and technology policies have greatly improved the country’s scientific and technological innovation capabilities to world-class levels in a short period of time and promoted exponential growth in overall research output. Taking the publication of articles as an example, in 2012 China’s PR published about 330,000 articles, while the United States of America produced 430,000. But in 2016, the number of articles published by the People’s Republic of China rose to more than 900,000, surpassing that of the United States of America.
The quantity and quality of China’s scientific output is improving, as evidenced by the acquisition of a large number of high-quality patents. In 2020, China ranked third in the number of patents granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (U.S. Patent and Trademark Office), behind Washington and Tokyo, showing that innovation and development in China have a good positive relationship and that innovative inputs have turned into more and higher quality innovative outputs.
While confirming the achievements of China n terms of innovation, the ITIF report highlights that even in the areas of chemistry, machine tools, semiconductors and biopharmaceuticals, China still has a certain gap with the world’s advanced level. However, China is catching up rapidly in these sectors.
All this shows that although China has taken the lead in developing chips used in devices such as refrigerators and heart rate monitors, there is still a gap in the production of high-quality semiconductors. In addition, China’s biopharmaceutical industry is beginning to show its brilliance, as evidenced by the increase in both the quantity and quality of scientific publications related to biotechnology, the continued appearance of new research and drug development results, and the growing number of clinical trials conducted in China.
The report finds that although China has not yet become a world leader in innovation in some areas, it is making extremely rapid progress. In the next 10 to 20 years, China is likely to catch up or be very close to the global innovation frontier in most advanced industries. In the new wave of innovation, China is set to become the world center of innovation.
There are great strides in the rapid development and widespread application of generative artificial intelligence technology, which have triggered a real craze for AI that is sweeping the world and the media: and an opportunity for transformation and development is being ushered in.
The mysterious technological singularity in science fiction novels is moving from imagination to reality, leading humanity into a new time and space full of unknowns. The age of smart media is coming.
Artificial intelligence brings limitless possibilities to the media industry, but just like previous revolutions in communication technology, the development of artificial intelligence cannot escape the “Collingridge dilemma”: that is, there are two paths to innovation; one of them is to analyze each innovation, trying to anticipate its possible negative consequences; in this way, great evils can be avoided. The pros and cons of emerging technologies remain in a “black box” until they are tested in practice.
The Chinese hope that the establishment of an effective global governance mechanism to promote artificial intelligence for the benefit of humanity will become a widely shared goal in the international community. In October 2023, Chinese President Xi Jinping proposed the Global Initiative for Artificial Intelligence Governance at the third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation. He proposed China solution and contributed typical Chinese wisdom in this profound topic of our times.
During President Xi Jinping’s visit to France in May 2024, Beijing and Paris issued a joint statement on artificial intelligence and global governance, which stated that the PR of China was willing to participate in the Artificial Intelligence Action Summit that was then held in Paris last Feb. 10 and 11. Vice Premier Zhang Guoqing’s participation in the Summit as President Xi Jinping’s special representative was a step to implement the common understandings between the two presidents and to demonstrate the responsible attitude of China as an important country in the field of AI and its commitment to promoting the development and security of this field.
Through this Summit, China has improved communication and exchanges with all parties, uniting consensus for cooperation and actively promoting the implementation of the UN Global Digital Compact-a proposed public agenda initiative of UN Secretary General António Guterres. The goal of this agreement is to ensure that digital technologies are used responsibly and for the benefit of all, thus fighting the digital divide and fostering a healthy and inclusive digital environment.
Also at that gathering, China also invited countries and experts from around the world to participate in the Global Developer Conference held in Shanghai’s Xuhui district from February 21-23, 2025 at the West Bund Grand Theatre to establish a global governance framework for artificial intelligence based on broad consensus and for the promotion of it for the good of all. Organized by the Shanghai AI Industry Association (SAIA), the conference hosted about one hundred developer communities from around the world, including Hugging Face and Microsoft Developer Community. The event featured a variety of activities, including an opening ceremony, networking sessions, business forums, and developer activities, promoting collaboration and innovation among top young developers. Two leading Chinese artificial intelligence companies SenseTime and MiniMax also participated.
One of the highlights of this year’s conference was the participation of the DeepSeek team, renowned for its innovative open source Large Language Model (Large Language Model-LLM: these are machine learning models that can understand and generate human language text; they work by analyzing huge language datasets).
In addition, at that forum China also invited countries, gaining global recognition. SAIA confirmed that the team will be actively involved in the event. Regarding DeepSeek, it should be added that it is necessary to raise awareness the usage limits introduced by Italy. We should overcome the ban on its use – imposed by third parties to the Italian hetero directed ruling class – as the violation of personal data is nonexistent, because the App is precisely open source and transparent.
Ultimately, the overall Chinese initiative underscores that the governance of artificial intelligence is linked to the fate of all humanity and is a common issue for all countries in the world.
Against the backdrop of the various challenges facing world peace and development, each state should adhere to the principle of attaching equal importance to development and security, building consensus through dialogue and cooperation, establishing an open, fair and effective governance mechanism, promoting artificial intelligence technology for the benefit of all humanity, not using it as a weapon, and promoting the building of a community with a shared future for humanity.
Focusing on issues such as the development, security, and governance of artificial intelligence, China’s position statement proposes fundamental principles such as people-orientation and intelligence for the good, contributing to the resolution of the challenges that artificial intelligence poses when, instead, when it is used as a weapon.
Author: Giancarlo Elia Valori – Honorable de l’Académie des Sciences de l’Institut de France, Honorary Professor at the Peking University.
(The views expressed in this article belong only to the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of World Geostrategic Insights).
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