China Announces Action Plan for Global AI Governance

China announced its Action Plan for Global Artificial Intelligence (AI) Governance on July 26, 2025, a few days after the White House released America’s AI Action Plan. Building on President Xi Jinping’s October 2023 Global AI Governance Initiative, this Action Plan reflects China’s ambition to shape global AI governance amid intensifying technological competition, emphasizing infrastructure development, sectoral application, data quality and security, an open and inclusive ecosystem, sustainability, and international cooperation to bridge the digital divide.

Read ANSI’s English translation of the Action Plan here (member login required).

Announced by Premier Li Qiang at the 2025 World AI Conference (WAIC), the Action Plan proposes a 13-point roadmap for global AI coordination, with practical steps to implement the 2023 Global AI Governance Initiative. Key standards-related elements of this Action Plan include:

• International consensus in standards and norms: Support dialogues among national standards bodies and leverage international standards-setting organizations, such as the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). Accelerate the revision and formulation of technical standards in key areas, such as security, industrial application, and ethics. Eliminate algorithmic bias, and improve inclusiveness and interoperability of standards systems.

• Digital infrastructure inclusivity and international capacity building: Prioritize support for developing countries, particularly in the Global South, through digital infrastructure development (clean electricity, next-generation networks, intelligent computing power, data centers, etc.), technology transfers, and capacity-building, with specific emphasis on a unified computing power standards system and standards for AI-related energy and water efficiency.

The Action Plan contains other elements including open-source and cross-border collaboration, risk management, and recommendations for the role of UN organizations and initiatives.

On the same day, the Chinese government proposed establishing a global AI cooperation organization, an international body designed to foster international collaboration on AI development and regulation. Potentially headquartered in Shanghai, this organization would coordinate global efforts, complement the work of the UN, share China’s advancements in AI, and help prevent monopolistic control by a few countries or corporations. The proposal states that China welcomes countries with sincerity and willingness to actively participate in the preparatory work of this organization.

Since 2017, China has implemented regulations that touch on or include AI, including the Data Security Law, Cybersecurity Law, Personal Information Protection Law, and measures targeting AI algorithms, deep synthesis technologies, and generative AI services. These regulations prioritize security, ethical reviews, and alignment with “core socialist values,” as seen in the Ethical Norms for New Generation of AI (2021) (see English translation by CSET here) and the Interim Administrative Measures for Generative AI Services (2023) (see English translation by ANSI here). They are also accompanied by government guidance on the development of AI standards and other technical specifications, such as the National Guidelines for the Development of a Comprehensive Standardization System for the AI Industry (2024) (see English translation by ANSI here). The State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR), the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), among other agencies, have played key roles in shaping these policies. Key stakeholders in China’s national AI standards include the National Technical Committee on AI (SAC/TC 28/SC 42) and Cybersecurity (SAC/TC 260), which are mirror committees of ISO/IEC Joint Technical Committee (JTC) 1/Subcommittee (SC) 42 and ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 27, respectively. China Electronics Standardization Institute (CESI) hosts the secretariats of both SAC committees.