Cooperation crucial for AI, climate change governance

The meeting between the Chinese and US presidents in San Francisco last month was important because it provided a base for stabilizing bilateral relations amid growing disputes between the two major countries, anxiety among its people, global economic stagnation and geopolitical conflicts around the world.

China-US relations are complicated, as well as very important for the world, so the leaders of the two countries should hold strategic dialogues more often — at least once a year. The voice of the head of state is decisive for bilateral relations. And the consensus that the two leaders arrived at in San Francisco needs firm and thorough implementation.

In addition to the head-of-state dialogue mechanism, China and the US should establish more mechanisms for bilateral policy communication, which could be supportive for more efficient high-level talks. Considering the complicated relationship between China and the US, the two countries need to keep expanding, improving and innovating the bilateral communication mechanisms to cope with the changing situations.

Let's cite two examples. The development of artificial intelligence is one of the most severe new challenges for humanity. The European Union has made efforts to formulate mechanisms for AI regulation, while China and the US, as two giants in AI technology, have little constructive talk on the issue. It may prove disastrous if China and the US cannot find a way to work together, in five to 10 years, on regulating AI development so that it only serves people.

The recent United Nations Climate Conference COP28, showed that international cooperation on climate change is extremely important but the international community took decades to understand climate change with loads of disagreements still remaining.

Despite a bumpy road ahead, China and the US must cooperate for the sake of their people and for global peace and development. The two countries must maintain communication to establish constructive mechanisms to promote China-US cooperation.

Zhu Guangyao, former Chinese vice-minister of finance