Unpacking China's Global AI Governance Plan
Justin Hendrix / Aug 3, 2025Audio of this conversation is available via your favorite podcast service.
On Saturday, July 26, three days after the Trump administration published its AI action plan, China’s foreign ministry released that country’s action plan for global AI governance. As the US pursues “global dominance,” China is communicating a different posture. What should we know about China’s plan, and how does it contrast with the US plan? What's at stake in the competition between the two superpowers?
To answer these questions, I reached out to a close observer of China's tech policy. Graham Webster is a lecturer and research scholar at Stanford University in the Program on Geopolitics, Technology, and Governance, and he is the Editor-in-Chief of the DigiChina Project, a "collaborative effort to analyze and understand Chinese technology policy developments through direct engagement with primary sources, providing analysis, context, translation, and expert opinion." Webster attended the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai. I spoke to him right after his return.
The professional forum of the 2025 WAIC World Artificial Intelligence Conference concludes at the Expo Center in Shanghai, China, on July 28, 2025. (Photo by Costfoto/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
A transcript is forthcoming.
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