by AKANI CHAUKE
JOHANNESBURG – CHINA and Russia support the United Nations (UN) to play a central role in the governance of artificial intelligence (AI).
The two countries, which enjoy some of the most solid inter-country relations, have emphasised the importance of respecting national sovereignty in the era of AI, abiding by national laws and the UN Charter in this process.
“The two sides oppose the politicisation of scientific and technological issues and the negative practices that maliciously undermine the stability of the international industrial chain and supply chain of artificial intelligence,” they jointly stated.
This is the outcome of a meeting between President Xi Jinping of China and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, who is on a state visit until Saturday, as part of commemorations of the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Soviet Union’s Great Patriotic War.
At the meeting, the two leaders reaffirmed their commitment to jointly promote the development of AI for good and inclusive development, and believe that machine learning is conducive to promoting the economic and social development of all countries.
China and Russia thus are against modern technology becoming a geopolitical tool for individual countries to maintain hegemony.
The Russian side said it appreciated China’s promotion of the consensus adoption of the resolution on “Strengthening International Cooperation in AI Capacity Building” by the UN General Assembly.
Russia also welcomes China’s proposal of the “Inclusive Plan for AI Capacity Building” and is willing to actively carry out bilateral and multilateral cooperation based on platforms such as the “Friends Group of International Cooperation on AI Capacity Building” and the China-BRICS Artificial Intelligence Development and Cooperation Centre.
The two countries pledged to support each other in holding the 2025 World Artificial Intelligence Conference and the High-level Meeting on Global Governance of Artificial Intelligence and the Global Digital Forum.
