China released an international AI ethics action plan and a global cooperation initiative on AI agent trust, interconnection, and interoperability at the 2026 World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) and High-Level Meeting on Global AI Governance in Shanghai, which opened on July 17, 20263,4,11.
The agent cooperation initiative was released by the Cyberspace Administration of China and outlines a blueprint for collaboration in the global AI agent ecosystem across ten dimensions: technology, standards, infrastructure, applications, industry, security, data, resources, culture, and literacy. Experts cited in the coverage noted that the current global AI agent landscape is marked by "explosive growth" alongside "fragmented silos," with agents operating across incompatible platforms, architectures, and ecosystems.
The conference, running from July 17 to July 21, features more than 140 forums and an exhibition area exceeding 100,000 square meters, with over 1,100 enterprises participating. Attendees included world leaders, official representatives, business leaders, scholars, and researchers from more than 100 countries and international organizations6.
At the opening ceremony, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced the creation of the World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization (WAICO) and called for joint efforts to build a system for global AI governance. Vector Wire previously covered the WAICO launch as Beijing's bid to establish a new international body for setting global AI standards and governance norms ctx.
The conference drew endorsements from United Nations officials. Zou Ciyong, deputy to the director general and a managing director of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), praised China's emphasis on open-source and inclusive AI as a global public good, saying the approach aligns with the Global Digital Compact. Liu Fang, former chief of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), also spoke positively about China's efforts to promote collaborative AI policies.
Mark Nitzberg, Executive Director of UC Berkeley's Center for Human-Compatible AI, said China has "already contributed significantly to global AI governance" and noted that a number of regulatory frameworks were first introduced in China. He added that international researchers have held regular exchanges with the drafters of Chinese regulations.
Jeffrey Sachs, a public policy analyst and former senior UN adviser, spoke to CGTN Europe about artificial intelligence as the defining general-purpose technology of the current era, with China and the United States emerging as the leading powers1,9.
Xinhua quoted an unspecified international participant stating that "China doesn't want to hold the key to artificial intelligence just by itself. It wants to share it with the world"7.
The ethics action plan and agent cooperation initiative add to a series of Chinese AI governance moves tracked by Vector Wire, including a mandatory national safety standard for Level 3 and Level 4 automated driving currently moving through China's approval process ctx.
ANALYSIS The dual release of an ethics action plan and an agent interoperability initiative at the same conference signals an effort to address both high-level governance principles and granular technical coordination challenges simultaneously. The ten-dimension framework for agent cooperation — spanning technology through literacy — is notably broad, covering not just technical standards but also cultural and educational dimensions that extend beyond what most existing multilateral AI governance proposals have addressed.