A prominent Chinese foreign policy scholar called Wednesday for a sweeping overhaul of global artificial intelligence governance, warning that Western technology monopolies, geopolitical blockades, and unregulated ethical risks threaten to widen the economic divide between developed nations and the Global South.
Writing in the state-run Guangming Daily, Liao Fan, director of the Institute of World Economics and Politics at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, outlined a policy framework advocating for United Nations centered regulation, shared security protocols, and international capacity building.
Liao argued that the global AI landscape is currently constrained by structural monopolies. A small number of developed economies and major technology platforms leverage early advantages in core algorithms, advanced computing power, and critical data resources to construct a closed loop of technology exports, standard setting, and profit retention, Liao wrote.
According to the commentary, this dynamic extracts valuable data resources from developing nations while denying those same countries a fair share of the resulting economic dividends, trapping them in a cycle of outflowing data and rising security pressures.
Liao also criticized zero-sum geopolitical containment, warning that efforts to build exclusive technology blocs in semiconductors, computing hardware, and foundation models through "small yards and high fences" fragment global innovation. This approach artificially splits global supply chains, disrupts the international division of labor, and further squeezes developing nations out of the digital transformation.
On technical safety, the analysis divided AI risks into internal system flaws and external spillover threats. Internal risks include model hallucinations, algorithmic bias, and software vulnerabilities, while external risks stem from non-state actors, including criminal syndicates and terrorist groups, using open-source models and commercial application programming interfaces to execute cyberattacks, construct deepfakes, or produce dangerous materials.
To address these cross-border threats, Liao suggested that the international community explore cooperative mechanisms inspired by international nuclear non-proliferation regimes to monitor and share information on AI misuse.
The commentary emphasized that technical capacity building remains the key to long-term digital inclusion. Citing UN Special Envoy on Digital and Emerging Technologies Amandeep Singh Gill, the piece noted that AI alone cannot bridge societal divides, as its benefits flow primarily to regions equipped with existing institutions, skills, and data infrastructure.
To counter these disparities, Liao pointed to Beijing's recent commitments, including President Xi Jinping's pledge at the 2026 World Artificial Intelligence Conference to provide 5,000 specialized AI training slots for developing nations over the next five years, alongside China's proposal to establish a World AI Cooperation Organization.
Addressing the geopolitical friction between Beijing and Washington, the commentary called on China and the United States to serve as global anchors by maintaining constructive strategic stability in AI relations, establishing clear red lines, and preserving open communication channels.
Liao urged international regulators to resist expanding the definition of national security to restrict the legitimate development rights of other countries, calling instead for a human-centered framework that embeds ethical reviews across all stages of AI research and deployment.
