US, other nations back open source AI with ‘strong protection’ at China conference
Li Lecheng, Minister of Industry and Information Technology of China, spoke at a press conference on July 23, 2026, in Chengdu, China, as part of APEC Digital Weeks.
Evelyn Cheng CNBC
CHENGDU, China – Governments are increasingly seeking to regulate artificial intelligence, as companies release powerful open-source models, a new multinational statement says.
The 21 member economies of APEC, including the US and China, issued a “Chengdu statement” on AI that emphasizes respect for “security, data protection and intellectual property rights,” while seeking to support open source development.
The statement issued on Thursday also clarified the support for models and projects that “use a strong guarantee of security through development and deployment.”
Those details show how open source is moving away from its libertarian roots, and toward something that involves government oversight. China has led the latest open source AI development, amid US claims of stealing American technology to do so.
Open source models from Chinese companies such as DeepSeek and GLM 5.2 are free to use and download, unlike US companies such as Anthropic which only offer closed, paid-for use AI models.
Chengdu’s “clear alignment around open environment and computing infrastructure” confirms that the Asia-Pacific is moving from closed models to open-minded systems integrated with energy, telecommunications and digital infrastructure, said Winston Ma, a law professor at New York University.
The APEC AI statement is the first to include open source collaboration at the ministerial level, according to Li Lecheng, China’s minister of industry and information technology, who chaired the leaders’ meeting on Thursday.
He noted that all parties recognize the risks of AI, and encouraged dialogue across government, private sector and academia to share information on cyber security, supply chain resilience and cyber fraud.
The comments come amid growing reports that Washington and Beijing are seeking tighter controls on domestic AI capabilities.
“Getting 21 economies, including China and the United States, to see open source AI as something to support makes sense,” said Wei Sun, principal analyst, artificial intelligence, Counterpoint Research.
“The phrase ‘strong security guarantee’ gives security-conscious economists a place to support open models while still demanding auditability, transparency, data protection and deployment control,” he said. “The debate goes beyond open vs. closed and looking at: who can now build an ecosystem that is open and trusted enough for governments and businesses to use.”
But technology can end up moving very quickly.
Janet De Silva, chairperson of the APEC Business Advisory Council Digital and innovation working group, earlier on Thursday urged ministers to prepare for the quantum computing era.
“We need reliable encryption to ensure the safety of our entire financial system, ensuring that quantum computing is not only a means of security but also an opportunity to bring competition.”
