Dar visits Shanghai to formalize Pakistan’s founding role in organizing AI

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar visited Shanghai on Thursday for a two-day visit to attend the 2026 World Conference on Artificial Intelligence and formalize the country’s participation in a new international artificial intelligence organization, according to a statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (FO).

According to FO, Pakistan will join the World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization (WAICO) as a founding member during the visit. He said the Deputy Prime Minister will “sign the agreement” for Pakistan’s membership in WAICO as a founding member.

During the visit, Dar is also expected to “participate in the 2026 World Conference on Artificial Intelligence” and “engage with leaders to advance international AI cooperation and promote inclusive and equitable AI governance”, the ministry said.

An earlier Foreign Ministry statement said Dar would also hold a bilateral meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on the sidelines of the conference, as well as meetings with other counterparts to discuss issues of common interest.

He said he would present Pakistan’s views on strengthening international cooperation in the field of artificial intelligence, with emphasis on “inclusive and equitable” AI governance, capacity building and priorities of developing countries, especially those in the South.

During Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s visit to China in May, the prime minister expressed support for China’s initiative to establish the World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization, saying it “represents a concrete step toward promoting the development of artificial intelligence for the good and for all,” and said she would work with China to “advance global governance and international cooperation on artificial intelligence.”

WAICO

Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to present an ambitious vision for China’s role in global AI governance at a forum Friday, as Huawei showcases its most advanced AI computing cluster yet, a sign of Beijing’s desire to build a domestic alternative to U.S. technology.

Xi’s participation in the annual World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) highlights for the first time Beijing’s vision of AI as both an engine of economic growth and a strategic technology in global competition.

Huawei’s Atlas 950 SuperPoD large-scale AI computing system will make its public debut at the July 17-20 forum in Shanghai. The launch is one of the clearest demonstrations of China’s efforts to assemble such systems without the most advanced chips from American giant Nvidia.

Designed for large-scale AI training and inference, the system connects thousands of Huawei Ascend AI processors via high-speed interconnections so that they operate as a single computing cluster.

DeepSeek’s latest V4 model has been adapted to run entirely on clusters built using Huawei’s Ascend chips, highlighting the progress Chinese companies have made in creating AI ecosystems independent of US technology. Domestic media reported that Chinese chipmakers including Biren and MetaX would also launch new “supernode” computing clusters.

The gathering comes as Washington and Beijing prepare for their first government negotiations on AI under U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration, turning the WAIC from a technology showcase into an early test of how China intends to compete to influence the rules governing AI around the world.

The two rivals laid out competing visions for AI governance at a UN dialogue on AI last week, in which Washington argued that sweeping regulation would stifle technological advances and Beijing presented its open-source, low-cost AI models as a public good that would address global AI inequities.

“In this context, the WAIC has become more than a technological showcase; it is now a geopolitical stage where Beijing seeks to articulate its vision of “AI” as both a national priority and a diplomatic instrument,” wrote George Chen, president of the Asia Group’s digital practice.

In a speech in January, Xi likened AI to a “epoch-making major technological transformation after the steam engine,” and Beijing explicitly bet that future growth would focus on spreading AI throughout its economy and achieving self-sufficiency in cutting-edge technologies.

China proposed the establishment of a World AI Cooperation Organization (WAICO) at last year’s conference, but no country has officially announced its membership.

The conference coincides with a high-level meeting on global AI governance in Shanghai, where progress on WAICO and the implementation of the Global AI Governance Initiative is expected to be announced.

Beijing is also expected to promote Chinese open-source AI models as a low-cost alternative to Western offerings, arguing they can expand access to the technology.

“AI development must never evolve into a walled-in technology monopoly, but must always be anchored in the fundamental goal of serving humanity,” read a statement. People’s Daily comment this week.

In addition to Chinese tech industry heavyweights, international leaders including UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul will attend the WAIC.

Nine Turing and Nobel Prize winners, including deep learning pioneers Yoshua Bengio and Richard Sutton, will also be present, but major American technology companies are poorly represented.

“China has made progress with Southeast Asian countries in terms of building AI capabilities and presents itself as a spokesperson for developing countries that are left behind in the AI ​​race,” said an Asian diplomat. Reuters under condition of anonymity.

Other product launches expected at the forum include AI agent smartphones from ZTE-owned Nubia and AI startup StepFun, according to Chinese media reports.

Additional contribution from Reuters