On February 28, an article entitled Do Not Build Small Yard and High Fence on AI authored by H.E. Chu Maoming, Chinese Ambassador to Dominica, was published in Dominica’s mainstream media The Chronicle. Ambassador Chu criticized the United States for imposing restrictions on other countries in the fields of trade and technology, including artificial intelligence. He reaffirmed China’s commitment to promoting an open, inclusive, and green approach to AI development. Following is the full text of the article：
In today’s technological landscape, few topics generate discussion as much as artificial intelligence (AI). From industrial manufacturing to artistic creation, from voice assistants to autonomous driving, AI continues to reshape our lives, bringing unprecedented convenience.
Undoubtedly, AI is not the exclusive domain of any one country but a shared asset of all humanity. Last month, the Artificial Intelligence Action Summit was held in Paris, where 58 countries, including China, France, Germany, and India, signed and released the Statement on Inclusive and Sustainable Artificial Intelligence for People and the Planet. This document aims to ensure that AI development remains open, transparent, ethical, safe, and trustworthy. It should have been universally welcomed, yet two leading AI players—the United States and the United Kingdom—opposed it.
In reality, the international community is no stranger to the United States’ frequent opposition to global initiatives. Since the current U.S. administration took office, it has consistently pursued the so-called “America First” policy, wielding tariffs as a weapon, fabricating excuses, and resorting to coercion to suppress other nations and maintain its dominance. For example, the U.S. is spreading all kinds of false information on the fentanyl issue, smearing and scapegoating China, and hiking tariffs on Chinese imports over fentanyl. Such move is unjustified and will do no one good. Similarly, the U.S. recently accused Cuba’s overseas medical services of “forced labor” and used this claim to threaten officials in regional partner countries, including Dominica.
For American policymakers, the development of the U.S. and that of other nations seem mutually exclusive. To preserve its hegemony, the U.S. has been overstretching the concept of national security, politicizing and weaponizing trade and tech issues, severely sabotaging market rules and the international economic and trade order. In the AI sector, the U.S. chooses to split the world into tiers, granting access to countries that are “close” and barring access to “the rest”, and building small yard and high fence. The real purpose is to deprive developing countries, including China and Dominica, of the right to make their own progress in science and development.
At the end of last year, a Stanford University research institute ranked China second only to the U.S. in global AI capabilities. This year, the Chinese AI company DeepSeek introduced an advanced, commercially available open-source model with superior performance and significantly lower training costs than similar products, sparking widespread international attention and discussion. China’s AI strength is undeniable, but more importantly, China aims to drive collective progress among developing nations.
Recently, during a press conference at the Two Sessions, Member of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi addressed AI and technological innovation, garnering broad international recognition. H.E. Wang Yi emphasized that science and technology should not be used to put up an iron curtain. It should be the wealth that benefits all and is shared by all. China is willing to share AI innovations with more countries, ensuring that no nation is left behind.
Specifically, China is advancing multilateral cooperation on AI governance. The core of global AI governance lies in the allocation of rule-making authority. In October 2023, my President H.E. Xi Jinping put forward the Global AI Governance Initiative, contributing China’s proposal and wisdom on how to develop and govern AI, an important subject of our times. The initiative highlights the need to enhance the representation and voice of developing countries in global AI governance. The U.N. is at the very center of the system and the rules of multilateralism. Therefore, an AI governance mechanism in which all countries participate should be established within the U.N. framework. Making judgments based solely on one’s own values would only create division and obstacles and hinder our collective ability to address emerging challenges. China has facilitated UNGA adoption by consensus of the resolution on AI capacity-building and established the group of friends for international cooperation on AI capacity-building. Moving forward, China will continue to work with all parties to embrace openness, connectivity and equality instead of building walls, decoupling and discrimination.
China is also fostering inclusive and accessible AI development. Despite varying national capacities for AI advancement, every country has an equal right to develop and utilize AI. AI should not become an exclusive tool for wealthy nations and elites. Last year, China proposed the AI Capacity-Building Action Plan for Good and for All at the U.N., aiming at bridging the digital and intelligence divide and ensuring that the Global South benefits equally from AI advancements. Five visions were proposed on cooperation areas that meet the expectation of all parties, in particular the Global South, namely AI infrastructure, industrial empowerment, personnel training, digital development and security governance. The Action Plan identifies 10 actions China will take, including promoting AI and digital infrastructure connectivity and carrying out cooperation in R&D and application of models and language resources, better synergizing AI strategies and strengthening policy exchanges, and actively sharing technical practices.
Furthermore, China is promoting the green development of AI. The AI industry is energy-intensive, consuming vast amounts of electricity. For instance, generating a single AI-created image consumes as much energy as fully charging a smartphone. A single AI-processing chip can consume more electricity annually than a medium-sized household. If left unchecked, AI’s rapid expansion could exert significant pressure on the environment, with small island developing states among the first to suffer. China firmly believes that AI development should not come at the expense of ecological sustainability and is accelerating research into low-energy algorithms and infrastructure. China’s DeepSeek model, for example, has achieved an 83% reduction in training energy consumption while increasing inference speed by 5.2 times compared to models of similar intelligence. China is willing to collaborate with all countries, particularly developing nations, to explore AI’s potential in green development, climate change mitigation, and biodiversity protection, contributing to global climate governance and sustainable development.
Looking ahead, the digital economy is poised to become a key pillar of Dominica’s socio-economic growth, with AI applications playing an indispensable role. China is glad to strengthen cooperation with Dominica to foster an open, inclusive, equitable, and green AI development environment, ensuring that AI’s benefits reach the people.