What Is WAICO? 29 Nations Sign China-Led World AI Cooperation Organization Pact in Shanghai

On July 16, 2026, representatives of 29 countries signed the founding agreement of the World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization (WAICO) in Shanghai¹. Under that agreement, WAICO is to be “an independent intergovernmental international organization headquartered in Shanghai”¹. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi signed on behalf of the Chinese government, and according to the Chinese government’s announcement, UN Secretary-General António Guterres attended the ceremony alongside representatives of countries and international organizations¹. The creation of an intergovernmental body dedicated to AI marks a milestone in the contest over who sets the rules for AI governance.

Founding members confirmed by name include Russia, Pakistan, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, and Laos¹, as well as Brazil, Malaysia, South Africa, and Senegal² — a lineup dominated by major Global South nations. The following day, July 17, Chinese President Xi Jinping addressed the 2026 World AI Conference (WAIC), declaring that “AI development should not be a solo performance by a single country, but a symphony” of international cooperation³.

WAICO’s Purpose and Principles

The idea behind WAICO is not new. China first proposed the organization in July 2025². This signing turns roughly a year of advocacy into an actual institution.

According to the founding agreement, WAICO aims to promote international cooperation and global governance on AI, ensuring that AI is beneficial, safe, and fair, and promoting its healthy and orderly development to benefit all humanity¹. The organization will uphold the purposes of the UN Charter and follow the principles of extensive consultation, joint contribution for shared benefit, and a people-centered approach¹.

Operational details — such as when the organization will begin functioning and how its secretariat will be structured — have not yet been announced.

Xi’s Speech: An Appeal to the Global South

Xi’s address laid out the direction of China’s AI diplomacy. He called on countries to “jointly oppose overstretching the national security concept” in the AI field³ and argued that AI should be kept “always under human control”².

Concrete assistance measures accompanied the rhetoric. China pledged to provide 5,000 AI training and seminar opportunities over the next five years to support capacity building in Global South countries and bridge the “AI divide”³. Plans also include international AI application cooperation centers with regional organizations such as ASEAN, the Arab League, and the African Union, and the deployment of MAZU, an AI meteorological warning system, to 30 countries³.

The Geopolitics: AI Governance Splits into Blocs

Analysts cited by Al Jazeera see the move as China shifting its focus from exporting AI infrastructure to shaping global AI governance frameworks. Arindrajit Basu of the Carnegie Endowment notes that Beijing is seeking “buy-in for its state-centric governance vision” from developing nations².

International AI governance is now fragmenting into several tracks. The United Nations held the first session of its Global Dialogue on AI Governance in July 2026, aiming for an inclusive framework open to every UN member state. The United States introduced a voluntary framework for submitting frontier models to government review before release through its AI-focused national security executive order, while Australia unveiled its own regulation with the national AI framework “Australian Standards for AI”. WAICO can be seen as a third pole alongside these: China-led and Global South-oriented.

Notably, no US, EU, or Japanese participation appears among the confirmed founding members, and the stance of major Western countries remains unclear.

What It Means: Choosing Which Rulebook You Operate Under

For companies deploying AI globally, the fragmentation of governance frameworks becomes a practical question: whose rules do you build for? If cross-border data transfer requirements, model procurement expectations, and safety evaluation standards diverge across blocs, compliance strategies will need to vary by market.

In China’s case, Apple’s adoption of Alibaba’s Qwen for Apple Intelligence in China illustrates how local partnerships are becoming a practical route for foreign companies to comply with Chinese AI regulation. If WAICO extends Chinese-style AI infrastructure and norms across Global South markets, that regulatory boundary could stretch well beyond China’s borders. Companies planning AI-related business in emerging markets should track which framework each country has signed up to.