Chinese FM meets Indonesian coordinating minister for economic affairs

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with Indonesian Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto on Saturday in Shanghai.

Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, welcomed Airlangga to China, where he is attending the 2026 World Artificial Intelligence Conference.

Wang said Indonesia becoming one of the founding members of the World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization (WAICO) reflects the country's positive attitude toward international cooperation on AI, adding that China stands ready to work with like-minded countries to advance AI development in an inclusive and universally beneficial direction.

"In fact, this newly established international organization has been specifically designed for the Global South countries, because we don't want to see an AI gap appear in the world. AI should not become a game between the rich and the poor. Every country has the right and the opportunity to be able to keep pace with the tide of technological advancement," said Wang.

China is willing to strengthen coordination with Indonesia in international and regional affairs, and push forward the building of a China-Indonesia community with a shared future that carries regional and global influence, Wang said.

Airlangga commended China's global leadership in the AI field, adding that Indonesia welcomes and invites more Chinese enterprises to invest in the country, and looks forward to continuously expanding key Belt and Road cooperation projects with China.

"We strongly advocate for synergy between the WAICO and UN architectures, the Global Digital Compact, the global dialogue on AI governance, and WSIS [World Summit on the Information Society] to avoid fragmentation," said Airlangga.

Indonesia is among the founding members of the WAICO, which had 29 countries sign the establishment agreement on Thursday in Shanghai.

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Chinese FM meets Indonesian coordinating minister for economic affairs

The newly-established World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization (WAICO) marks a major milestone in AI development and a significant step toward global AI governance, international delegates said on Friday.

Twenty-nine countries on Thursday signed an agreement in Shanghai on establishing WAICO, an independent intergovernmental international organization headquartered in Shanghai.

The organization aims to promote international cooperation and global governance on AI, ensuring that AI is beneficial, safe and fair, thereby promoting its healthy and orderly development to benefit all humanity.

"I think this organization reinforces the need for multilateral cooperation. So you have 29 countries that have come together. I think yesterday's developments underline the importance of the capacity-building that countries around the world are facing an AI divide. There are some countries that do not have the talent, the datasets, the computer infrastructure, the access to the right models, and therefore efforts such as these can help bridge the AI divide," said UN Under-Secretary-General and Special Envoy for Digital and Emerging Technologies Amandeep Singh Gill.

Alaa Abdulaal, chief of Digital Economy Intelligence at the Digital Cooperation Organization, also hailed the launch, saying that cooperation is vital to ensure that no country is structurally excluded from the evolving digital landscape.

"Any initiative that is targeted for opening dialogues and innovation and conversation between countries to make sure that everyone is participating in the digital economy is a huge milestone. Whenever we have cooperation, whenever we have different countries, different representation, making sure that no one is left outside AI, it is a huge achievement, definitely," said Abdulaal.

World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization marks milestone in AI development: int'l delegates