Twenty-nine countries signed the intergovernmental accord on July 16 establishing the World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization, a Shanghai-based body pitched as the Global South’s alternative to Western-led AI rulemaking. President Xi Jinping formalized the launch the following day in his first in-person keynote at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference, telling delegates that “AI development should not be a solo performance by a single country, but a symphony of international cooperation,” and describing WAICO as “a major move by China to answer the call of the Global South.”

The founding roster reads as a map of Beijing’s diplomatic geometry: 10 African states, 12 Asian states, and members drawn from ASEAN, the Arab League, the African Union, CELAC, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, and BRICS. Russia, Belarus, Serbia, Cuba, Brazil, Venezuela, Indonesia, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Ethiopia, and Cameroon are among the signatories. Premier Li Qiang first floated the idea at last year’s conference. UN Secretary-General António Guterres attended.

The organization arrives with a policy dowry. WAICO will offer 5,000 AI training slots for developing countries over five years and deploy the “Mazu” AI weather early-warning system across 30 nations. Xinhua reports China’s core AI industries exceeded 1.2 trillion yuan, roughly $176.6 billion, in 2025.

The framing is the point. One Asian diplomat, quoted by Reuters, said Beijing “portrays itself as speaking up for developing countries who are being left behind in the AI race.” That framing lands squarely into a vacuum left by Washington, where the Trump administration has favored bilateral chip diplomacy over multilateral institution-building. Analysts cited by Al Jazeera read WAICO as parallel infrastructure, not a competing standard body yet.

Foreign Minister Wang Yi signed for China. The venue matters as much as the text: Shanghai, not Geneva.

Sources