China established the World AI Cooperation Organization in Shanghai on July 16, drawing 29 founding member countries. The initiative aims to expand to at least 40 members, surpassing the American-led Pax Silica coalition. U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres attended the launch, providing China with a significant diplomatic moment.
However, WAICO lacks the breadth of earlier Chinese initiatives like the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and Belt and Road Initiative, which attracted Western participation. President Xi Jinping stated that AI development "should not be a solo performance by one country, but a symphony of international cooperation," Signaling criticism of Washington's approach.
The organization functions primarily as a platform for Chinese influence expansion across the Global South rather than as a genuinely collaborative alliance. Member states include Russia, Belarus, Pakistan, Cuba, Venezuela, Indonesia, Malaysia, Brazil, South Africa, Senegal, and numerous African and Asian nations with existing Chinese ties. Most major BRICS economies have joined except India, which committed to the American framework in February. Kazakhstan alone participates in both camps.
Pax Silica, launched in December and likely prompting WAICO's creation, comprises the United States, Israel, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, Australia, and Greece, with additional partners. This coalition emphasizes securing AI supply chains through tangible cooperation on critical minerals, energy, chips, manufacturing and logistics.
The coalitions reflect distinct strategic advantages. China controls approximately 60 percent of global rare-earth mining and roughly 90 percent of refining capacity, while offering subsidized software models to less developed nations. The United States and partners lead in advanced model and chip development. Both sides pursue measures to reduce weaknesses while strengthening advantages.
China has weaponized its mineral advantages. Following Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's November 2025 statement that a Chinese Taiwan assault could constitute an existential threat to Japan, Beijing tightened rare-earth export licensing in December 2025 and banned dual-use rare-earth exports to Japan in January 2026.
The Pentagon expanded its "Chinese military companies" List to 188 entities on June 8, including civilian tech firms like Alibaba, BYD and Baidu. The Trump administration imposed a 25 percent semiconductor tariff in mid-January alongside conditional approval for Nvidia to sell China its H200 chip. China responded two weeks later by adding 10 American entities to its export control list, including MP Materials and USA Rare Earth - firms Washington relies on for rare-earth independence.
Chinese AI models have narrowed the technological gap with Western counterparts. Moonshot AI released Kimi K3, a 2.8-trillion-parameter model that outperforms certain Western benchmarks, demonstrating accelerated progress through civil-military fusion across China's tech sector. Western companies will likely prevent integration between Chinese and Western models to guard against intellectual property theft and espionage, narrowing middle powers' strategic flexibility.
For Israel, the implications are significant. Unlike mineral-rich or manufacturing-focused coalition members, Israel's value derives from AI expertise, chip design and cybersecurity. Israel depends on Pax Silica establishing a non-Chinese supply chain for critical inputs. If mineral use is deployed against Western allies as it was against Japan, Israel faces substantial economic exposure. Israeli policymakers should ensure adequate investment in supply chain diversification, chip manufacturing and energy security across Pax Silica-affiliated sectors, while strengthening separate frameworks with India, Singapore and Japan.