Artificial intelligence (AI) has been spotlighted at the ongoing APEC CEO Summit in Gyeongju, the Republic of Korea, with many participants calling for cooperation rather than confrontation in the industry.
Themed "Bridge, Business, Beyond", the four-day summit opened on Wednesday as part of the larger APEC Economic Leaders' Week.
At the summit, Beijing-based AI firm 4Paradigm expressed frustration over navigating U.S. export restrictions on advanced chips essential for AI training.
"Actually, it's a problem nowadays. We should face squarely the problem. We are making better and better chips. We can develop a lot of systems based on these chips, but there's still some gap. But we are catching [up with] them," said Dai Wenyuan, founder and CEO of 4Paradigm.
As the AI sector navigates intensifying U.S.-China rivalry, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum's commitment to multilateral collaboration collides with geopolitical tensions, though numerous participants maintain an optimistic, cooperative stance.
"I don't think there's a competition between the U.S. and China. We should cooperate. Even if there are some barriers, we can also improve our work, because our goal is to do better and better technologically and make the life better," Dai said.
As two leading AI powers in the world, the U.S. and China have developed distinctively different ecosystems, each building its own large language models and generative tools for images and audio.
However, tech leaders at the APEC CEO Summit say that diversity ultimately benefits companies in choosing which AI technology to adopt.
"There's a lot of innovation, obviously, coming out of the U.S. But now, China has actually also been catching up with respect to the frontier models, and the application and adoption of AI. It is less going to be, from a global business standpoint, versus it's going to be, and how do you adopt the innovation coming out from different regions," said Nitin Mittal, a principal with Deloitte Consulting.
APEC CEO Summit participants call for cooperation over confrontation in AI industry
Foreign diplomats and scholars are looking closely at this year's "two sessions", saying China's 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030) will not only chart the nation's economic and technological priorities but also reshape global value chains.
The fourth session of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), the nation's top political advisory body, opened on Wednesday, followed by the annual session of the National People's Congress (NPC) on Thursday. Together known as the "two sessions," these meetings offer a comprehensive view into China's development priorities.
Global observers emphasized that the 15th Five-Year Plan, a blueprint guiding the nation's economic, social, and technological priorities over the next five years, marks a decisive shift toward high‑quality growth anchored in advanced technologies, with ripple effects across the world.
"The two sessions will discuss China's five-year plan, which is heavily oriented toward China's major technological development. I believe this is important because it represents the new blueprint for China's economy, which is now oriented toward the renowned high-quality development, and this will undoubtedly impact the entire world. I think it is worth studying. This is very important for Latin America. It will help us integrate more intelligently into global value chains and into all aspects of the major development that China is promoting in iconic industrial sectors, such as artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and space development, where Latin America also has much to contribute beyond just commercial growth," said Gustavo Sabino Vaca Narvaja, former Argentine Ambassador to China.
"The two sessions are a major political milestone in China, and this year's gathering carries even greater significance as this year marks the start of the 15th Five-Year Plan. This plan represents not only a blueprint for China, but also a guide for other countries. Instruments like the five-year plan effectively provide greater certainty and predictability for the rest of the world," said Chilean scholar of international relations Ignacio Araya Heredia.
"This is a particularly important date, especially due to the fact that the next Five-Year Plan shall be positioned and we're going to see what its main elements shall be. Serbia, which has a very high degree of steel friendship with the People's Republic of China, can expect further assistance in identifying the most prominent areas of Serbian economy and being helped by its great partner, such as it has been done in the previous period, from one part with establishing the main infrastructure projects, but also reshaping the industrial sector of Serbia, not just Serbia, but the region as a whole," said Veljko Mijuskovic, assistant professor of the Faculty of Economics of the University of Belgrade.
Beyond the policy framework, experts also pointed to China's achievements in green energy and technological innovation as models worth emulating.
Tomasz Bielinski, adjunct professor at the University of Gdansk's Faculty of Economics, said the robotics displays at the 2026 China Media Group (CMG) Spring Festival Gala reflected China's broader push in technological innovation.
"I was really impressed about the robotics. I'm very impressed with Chinese development in the technological field, we can still make great deals with Chinese businessmen and we can cooperate together to use this technology for both the good of China and the European Union. I'm aware of the innovation especially in autonomous drive on the on the Chinese side," he said.
"We hope for more of China's economic cooperation, especially in trade and also in investment. Also, and the other focus, if I talk about the focus of the development, don't forget about the green energy. We know that China is great in the electric vehicle field. So because China's electric vehicles in Indonesia nowadays, since couple of years ago, are very, very popular," said Al Busyra Basnur, president of the Indonesia-China Friendship Association.
Observers see China's new five-year plan driving high-quality development, global tech shifts
