The robust development of China's high-tech sector, especially robotics and artificial intelligence (AI), is appealing to more and more countries around the world, said an expert following dozens of foreign leaders' visits to China's tech firms in the first half of this year.
With the conclusion of the visit by Thongloun Sisoulith, general secretary of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party Central Committee and president of Laos, to China last weekend, the number of foreign leaders visiting China this year has approached 20.
Many of these visiting dignitaries included visits to China's science and technology innovation firms in their itineraries.
In early June, Thongloun made a robotics company in east China's Hangzhou City the first stop of his visit to China.
In February of this year, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz invited German business leaders to join him in visiting the Chinese robotics company Unitree Robotics in Hangzhou, where they watched with great interest a performance of robots.
In April this year, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez came to the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing during his visit to China, and personally experienced remote-controlled robotic arm operations.
During his visit, he pledged to strengthen cooperation with China in the field of science and technology.
In late May, during his visit to China, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic also walked straight into a Chinese robotics company, where he interacted with a robot and watched robots being debugged.
The schedules of foreign dignitaries visiting China this year also showed that AI has garnered as much attention as robots.
In April, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Central Committee and Vietnamese President To Lam visited China.
At the China-ASEAN Countries Artificial Intelligence Application Cooperation Center in Nanning, capital of south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, he donned AI glasses to experience the device's HUD (head-up display) and real-time translation features.
During U.S. President Donald Trump's visit to China in mid-May, the two sides engaged in constructive exchanges on AI and agreed to launch an intergovernmental dialog on AI.
During Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to China in May, the two countries announced plans to deepen AI cooperation across multiple sectors.
The latest statistics show that as of last year, the total scale of China's new-generation information technology industry reached 36.9 trillion yuan (about 5.45 trillion U.S. dollars).
Last year, China became the first country in the world to have more than five million valid domestic invention patents.
Tu Xinquan, dean of the China Institute for WTO Studies of the University of International Business and Economics, said a growing number of countries are seeking to cooperate with China in high-tech sectors as they look for development opportunities.
"China has now become a global innovation hub, or rather, a key node in the innovation ecosystem. So, everyone wants to see exactly how China is doing it, to seek opportunities and to introduce China's smart manufacturing technologies to their own markets. For example, some European companies, such as automakers, are integrating our digital technologies and AI into their operations. Secondly, I believe some countries may wish to integrate into China's innovation ecosystem. Many foreign companies have established their innovation operations and research and development centers in China. Whether established developed nations or countries in the Global South, they can all find opportunities for cooperative development and solutions to their challenges in China's rapid technological progress and the development of innovation capabilities," he said.
During Merz’s visit to China, a full roster of leading German companies accompanied him, many of which have already established a complete industrial chain in China, spanning from research and development to production.
Last year, the UK's 48 Group officially launched its China representative office in Beijing's Yizhuang area, leveraging local advantages to accelerate the integration of resources and technological exchange between China and the UK in the field of AI innovation.
This year, visiting dignitaries from more than a dozen countries, including Canada and Mozambique, sighed with China cooperation agreements or memorandums of understanding regarding emerging industries.
At the China-Pakistan Business-to-Business (B2B) Investment Conference in Hangzhou in late May, enterprises from both sides signed dozens of major deals in a single day, covering fields such as AI and the digital economy.
"China is extremely open. They want to share their knowledge, they want to share their technology, they want to share everything," said Aamir Abbas, a Pakistani businessman.
Official data shows that to date, China has established sci-tech cooperation with over 100 countries and regions, and signed more than 100 intergovernmental agreements on sci-tech cooperation.
China has also proposed the establishment of a global AI cooperation organization, and launched an inclusive plan for AI capacity building.
China's rapid high-tech development appeals to world: expert
