President Xi Jinping Calls For Independence In AI Development Amid Rivality With The US

Chinese President Xi Jinping called for "independence and self-strengthening" efforts in the development of artificial intelligence (AI) (photo: x @PresidentXiCHN)

JAKARTA China's President Xi Jinping called for efforts to "independence and self-strengthening" in the development of artificial intelligence (AI), according to state media reports on Saturday 26 April. This call comes amid intense competition between China and the United States in fighting over dominance in the AI sector, which is now one of the main strategic sectors.

Speaking at the Politburo study session on Friday, April 25, Xi stressed that China should take advantage of what it calls an "integrated new national system" to drive progress in the AI sector.

"We must be aware of the existing gaps and double efforts to comprehensively advance technological innovation, industrial development, and implementation of AI in various sectors," Xi said, as reported by the official Xinhua news agency. He also emphasized that policy support will be provided, including through government procurement, protection of intellectual property rights, research, and human resource development.

Some experts believe that China has been reducing its lag in AI development compared to the United States over the past year. China's AI startup DeepSeek attracted global attention when in January 2025 it launched an AI reasoning model that is claimed to be developed with less advanced chips and lower costs compared to competitors from the West.

DeepSek's success rocked the assumption that technology sanctions from America would hamper China's AI sector. Previously, after OpenAI's launch of ChatGPT by OpenAI by the end of 2022, many parties predicted that China was far behind in this area.

In addition, China is also showing progress in infrastructure software engineering, strengthening its position amid increasingly fierce global technology competition.

In his statement, Xi also emphasized the importance of strengthening basic research and mastering core technologies such as high-end chips and basic software.

"We have to build an independent, controllable, collaborative AI software and hardware system," he said.

Xi also called for accelerated AI-related regulations and legislation to build an early warning system and emergency response, to ensure that artificial intelligence in China remains safe, reliable, and under control.

Last year, Xi stressed that AI development should not be a "game of rich countries and rich people," while calling for international governance and broader global cooperation in the field of artificial intelligence.