China invites UK to attend its AI summit

Shanghai will host the World AI Conference this summer, including “high level meetings on global AI governance,” Beijing’s ambassador to the U.K., Zheng Zeguang, said in a speech in at the Sino-UK Entrepreneur Forum in London. “We hope the U.K. government will send its senior representative,” News.Az reports citing Politico.

The invite comes amid mixed signals from the British government about its China policy — with a flurry of more hawkish moves in recent weeks coming after months of work to try and build bridges between the two countries.

British government reps took part in a China-hosted AI "capacity building" workshop in Beijing this week, Zheng said. And he pointed to the delegation China sent to Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s AI Safety Summit in 2023 as evidence of how the two countries are collaborating already on the emerging tech.

But if London and Beijing are to go further on the hot-button issue it’s “very important to get rid of the political disruptions and interventions,” Ambassador Zheng said. “Some in the U.K. still view China through an outdated lens. They hold on to their ideological biases and overstretch the concept of national security.” 

China and Britain, he said, should also work together to “face up to” the challenges posed by “trade bullying” and U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff war.

The start of this week saw Beijing and Washington tone down economic tensions after Trump slapped 145 percent tariffs on Chinese goods imports last month, with China responding in kind.

Both sides announced Monday they will cut tariffs. The Trump administration slashed theirs to 30 percent, while the Chinese side dropped their measures from 125 percent to 10 percent, for 90 days to allow for further negotiations.

This week, Ambassador Zheng criticized Starmer’s trade pact with Trump struck a week ago, arguing it could force Chinese firms out of British supply chains. Nations like Britain should “say no to any arrangement that would obstruct international exchanges and collaboration,” the Chinese ambassador said Wednesday. 

“We must uphold true multilateralism. We must firmly oppose decoupling or the severing of the global industrial supply chain or such practices of the small yard, high fence,” Zheng said.

“International sci-tech cooperation faces unprecedented challenges,” Beijing’s ambassador to London said. When it comes to AI and other issues both nations should “continue to collaborate closely.”