Beijing Xiangshan Forum Navigator Meeting opens to chart course for global security

The Beijing Xiangshan Forum Navigator Meeting kicked off in Beijing on Tuesday morning, bringing together over 200 defense officials, experts, scholars and media representatives from more than 30 countries and international organizations to discuss global security issues in preparation for the main forum later this year.

This Navigator Meeting, a crucial step in the forum's development, serves as a precursor to the main Beijing Xiangshan Forum, which is scheduled for the fall.

Since its inception in 2006, the Beijing Xiangshan Forum has successfully hosted eleven editions and has become a prominent international defense and security forum. To further optimize the planning and design of the forum's serial activities and create more opportunities for exchange and cooperation, this year, for the first time ever, a navigator conference was held before the opening of the main forum, combining defense exchange and academic dialogue.

"Firstly, this conference is intended to make preparations for the main forum by collecting opinions and suggestions from participants to focus on their positions and security concerns. Secondly, the event is intended to provide more dialogue and exchange opportunities on international security. And thirdly, it is designed to strengthen practical cooperation among defense departments of various countries by exploring potential cooperation and implementing existing plans, to provide important input for pushing the forum to achieve more practical cooperation results," said Wu Jianguo, director of the Office of the Secretariat of the Beijing Xiangshan Forum.

In the coming two days, the event will convene four roundtable discussions on the Trend of Defense and Military Cooperation in the Asia-Pacific, the Trend of Great Power Relations after the Super Election Year, the Role of BRICS in Global Security Governance, as well as the Role of the U.N. in Resolving Global and Regional Hotspot Security Issues. These in-depth discussions aim to contribute insights to building a more just and reasonable international order.

Beijing Xiangshan Forum Navigator Meeting opens to chart course for global security

China aims to achieve secure and reliable supply of key core artificial intelligence (AI) technologies by 2027, with its industrial scale and empowerment level remaining among the world's forefront, according to a recent government action plan.

The plan, jointly issued by eight departments including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Cyberspace Administration of China, and the National Development and Reform Commission, outlines an ambitious push to deeply integrate AI with the manufacturing sector, foster new quality productive forces and comprehensively empower new industrialization. By 2027, the plan targets the deep application of three to five general-purpose large AI models in manufacturing, the development of specialized, full-coverage industry-specific large models, the creation of 100 high-quality industrial datasets, and the promotion of 500 typical application scenarios.

It also aims to cultivate two to three globally influential ecosystem-leading enterprises, a batch of specialized and sophisticated small and medium-sized enterprises, and a group of enabling service providers proficient in both AI technology and industry know-how.

Furthermore, China plans to build a world-leading open-source ecosystem, enhance security governance capabilities, and contribute Chinese solutions to global AI development.

The document outlines measures including promoting the coordinated development of AI chips' hardware and software, supporting innovations in model training and inference methods, fostering key industry-specific large models, and deeply embedding large model technology into core production processes.

The plan also emphasizes making breakthroughs in key technologies such as security protection for industrial model algorithms and training data protection.

China aims for secure, reliable supply of AI core tech by 2027