China’s AI alliance keeps growing, just as Washington tells countries to choose

China’s World AI Cooperation Organisation (WAICO) expanded from 29 to 38 members within a month, cementing Beijing’s “digital sovereignty” doctrine in a UN-submitted position paper that stresses independent AI development paths. The United States is drafting a letter urging the 35 countries that signed its AI Opportunity Statement to avoid “duplicative initiatives,” aiming to force a split between WAICO and the U.S.–led Pax Silica alliance, whose 25 members overlap with WAICO’s roster.