Xi to attend opening ceremony of 2026 World AI Conference, deliver keynote speech

Chinese President Xi Jinping will attend the opening ceremony of 2026 World Artificial Intelligence (AI) Conference and High-Level Meeting on Global AI Governance and deliver a keynote speech, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson announced on Monday.

The conference will be held in Shanghai from July 17 to 20.

At a regular briefing, Lin Jian, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman briefed the media on the situation of the conference.

"With the theme of 'AI Partnership for a Brighter Future', the 2026 World AI Conference and High-Level Meeting on Global AI Governance will be held in Shanghai from July 17 to 20. President Xi Jinping will attend and address the opening ceremony, in which he will systemically elaborate on China's policies, position, visions and propositions on AI development and governance. China has invited government officials and people across industries, universities and research institutes around the world, as well as heads of international organizations to share the moment together in China," he said.

"At present, AI technological innovation is undergoing broad-based breakthroughs, demonstrating unprecedented dynamism. Such progress brings both opportunities and challenges to the international community, making AI governance a profound topic of our times. Over the years, in the field of AI, China has been acting on the four global initiatives and the Global AI Governance Initiative put forward by President Xi. China is committed to providing international public goods, advocating AI for good and for all with real actions, and helping the Global South strengthen capacity-building. Our efforts are highly commended by the international community," said Lin. "Through this conference, China looks forward to building a platform for various parties to enhance mutual trust, pool consensus, and deepen cooperation so as to promote the healthy, safe and orderly development of AI, and make this conference a milestone in the history of AI development," Lin said.

Xi to attend opening ceremony of 2026 World AI Conference, deliver keynote speech

The weak performance of tech stocks has dragged on Asian stocks, said China Global Television Network (CGTN) analyst Timothy Pope.

Hong Kong's stock market ended mixed Monday with the benchmark Hang Seng Index up 0.16 percent to close at 24,213.72 points.

The Hang Seng China Enterprises Index gained 0.33 percent to end at 8,065.97 points, and the Hang Seng Tech Index decreased by 0.96 percent to end at 4,676.43 points.

"Energy, industrials and consumer stocks did a lot of the heavy lifting for the Hang Seng in Hong Kong today, while we saw tech stocks dragging and that was a story around the region really. Recent index addition MiniMax tanked by 17 percent to close at a record low. Its shares have been falling since a huge chunk of outstanding shares came out of post-IPO lockup last week, but today the AI company stock sank below its market debut price for the first time," Pope said.

Tokyo stocks closed lower on Monday, while the benchmark Nikkei index, the 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average, dropped 1,315.00 points, or 1.92 percent.

"Over in Tokyo today the Nikkei225 was down 1.9 percent. Worries about rising oil prices really added to the tension there. There's worry that that's going to fuel company cost rises. Investors seemed a little bit more sensitive to that today as we head into financial reporting season in Japan. AI chain-related stocks retreated again. Heavyweights Tokyo Electron and Advantest were dragging on the Nikkei. There were also some gains, though, for financial and banking stocks, suggesting that perhaps investors are rotating out of AI shares for the moment," said Pope.

Tech stocks drag on Asian markets: analyst