Chen Gang: Building a new highland for artificial intelligence cooperation for ASEAN to empower China-ASEAN community with a shared future – China Daily Network

China Daily, Beijing, March 11 (Reporter Shi Ruipeng, Zou Shuo, Zhang Li) During the National People’s Congress and the Chinese People’s Congress, Chen Gang, Secretary of the Party Committee of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Chairman of the Standing Committee of the Autonomous Region People’s Congress, accepted a written exclusive interview with China Daily, focusing on Guangxi’s role as a frontier and window in opening up cooperation with ASEAN, actively carried out cooperation with ASEAN countries in the fields of artificial intelligence, digital economy, etc., build a new highland for artificial intelligence cooperation for ASEAN, and empower the construction of a China-ASEAN community with a shared future. On March 11, the flagship and international editions of China Daily published an exclusive interview article, which attracted widespread attention at home and abroad.

Reporter: As China’s “digital corridor” facing ASEAN, what are the unique advantages of Guangxi in the layout of the artificial intelligence industry facing ASEAN?

Chen Gang:Artificial intelligence is the focus of attention in the world today and is also a hot topic at this year’s National People’s Congress and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference. Regarding the development of artificial intelligence, I have a judgment that in the future, it is not that artificial intelligence defeats humans, but that people who use artificial intelligence defeat people who do not use artificial intelligence, and companies that use artificial intelligence to defeat companies that do not use artificial intelligence; the same is true for the development of a country and a place. Whoever develops artificial intelligence first and applies artificial intelligence, this country and this place can be ahead.

General Secretary Xi Jinping stressed that it is necessary to strengthen international governance and cooperation in artificial intelligence to ensure that artificial intelligence is good and benefits all mankind. In September 2024, the Chinese government announced the implementation of the “Inclusive Plan for the Construction of Artificial Intelligence Capacity” at the High-level Conference on International Cooperation for the Construction of Artificial Intelligence Capacity”, and carried out “Ten Actions” around the “five visions” that the global south is generally expected of, aiming to bridge the digital and intelligent gap, help the “Global South” to benefit equally in the development of artificial intelligence, and receive positive responses from the international community. During this year’s Spring Festival, China’s artificial intelligence model DeepSeek emerged, significantly reducing the technical threshold and investment costs of artificial intelligence development with an open source model, marking the arrival of the “Era of Popular Artificial Intelligence”. Against this background, Chinese artificial intelligence companies are actively seeking in-depth cooperation with ASEAN countries with vigorous vitality and outstanding innovation to promote the widespread application of artificial intelligence technology in ASEAN.

Guangxi is the frontier and window for opening up cooperation to ASEAN. China’s resources and advantages in the field of artificial intelligence are Guangxi’s resources and advantages. At the same time, Guangxi is at a critical juncture of China’s 1.4 billion market and ASEAN’s 700 million market. It has a rich energy supply system, ASEAN corpus foundation, ASEAN language talent foundation, university foundation in AI teaching and scientific research, and superimposed policy dividends. It has unique advantages in implementing the “Inclusive Plan for the Construction of Artificial Intelligence Capacity” and carrying out artificial intelligence cooperation for ASEAN.

First, cross-border digital facilities are connected. The China-ASEAN Information Port is a digital open platform granted by the state to Guangxi, and has built 12 international land optical cables with Guangxi as the core hub and reaching ASEAN countries. In July last year, the state approved the establishment of the International Communications Service Entrance and Export Bureau in Nanning. After it was officially put into operation at the end of this year, Guangxi will become China’s province with the shortest data transmission distance and the fastest speed in ASEAN. Guangxi and ASEAN jointly build an artificial intelligence computing power cluster, which will effectively meet the data processing needs of ASEAN countries in the field of artificial intelligence.

The second is to support digital cooperation through multiple policies. The construction of the China-ASEAN Free Trade Zone version 3.0 has included the digital economy in the cooperation framework for the first time, providing a favorable opportunity for China and ASEAN digital economy cooperation. Guangxi has preferential policies such as the China-ASEAN Industrial Cooperation Zone, the China (Guangxi) Pilot Free Trade Zone, and the Beibu Gulf Economic Zone. In February this year, Guangxi established an artificial intelligence industry fund of RMB 10 billion. These policies combined with financial support will effectively promote cooperation with ASEAN artificial intelligence innovation.

Third, there are rich scientific research resources for corpus talents. Guangxi and ASEAN countries have been continuously deepening exchanges and cooperation in the fields of economy, trade and investment, humanities and education, and have accumulated massive ASEAN corpus resources such as multilingual business texts, cross-border logistics and cross-cultural communication and exchange data, which can provide a high-quality data foundation for artificial intelligence model training. Guangxi is one of the provinces in China that recruits the largest number of international students in ASEAN countries. It has rich ASEAN language talent resources and has signed cooperation projects with relevant parties in Vietnam and Laos to jointly cultivate artificial intelligence and digital economy talents. The first special training course on artificial intelligence for Vietnamese cadres will be held in Nanning, Guangxi in March. Guangxi University, Guilin University of Electronic Science and Technology, Guilin University of Science and Technology, etc. have all established artificial intelligence colleges for ASEAN, which have the basic conditions for carrying out high-level artificial intelligence technology innovation cooperation and incubation of results.

Fourth, communication channels are smooth. Guangxi has successfully held the 21st China-ASEAN Expo, the China-ASEAN Business and Investment Summit, the 5th China-ASEAN Information Port Forum and the 4th China-ASEAN Artificial Intelligence Conference. In September this year, Guangxi will hold the 22nd ASEAN Expo and Summit with the theme of artificial intelligence, highlighting the new business opportunities in the digital economy, green economy and other fields covered by the China-ASEAN 3.0 version, innovatively set up artificial intelligence halls and new quality productivity halls, hold roundtables for the Minister of Artificial Intelligence, artificial intelligence innovation competition and other activities, promote China and ASEAN to strengthen cooperation in new fields and new tracks, and inject new impetus into regional economic growth.

Reporter: Briefly introduce what achievements have been made in the cooperation reached by Guangxi, Vietnam and Laos in the field of artificial intelligence? How to break through cooperation barriers in the future and ensure that the project is implemented and effective?

Chen Gang: From the 18th to the 24th of last month, I led a delegation from Guangxi to Vietnam and Laos, visited senior leaders of the two countries, held work talks with the industry, trade, science and technology departments and relevant localities of the two countries, and organized a number of leading domestic artificial intelligence companies in the field of artificial intelligence, including 360, Alibaba, Zero-1000 Things, to go to Vietnam to cooperate. The top leaders of the two countries highly agree with China’s artificial intelligence development achievements and look forward to the two sides strengthening cooperation, jointly developing basic large models of artificial intelligence in their own languages, and improving the basic capabilities of artificial intelligence. During the visit to Vietnam, the Guangxi delegation facilitated the signing of a batch of agreements with the leading industrial park developer of Vietnam, Jingbei Urban Development Company, and Vietnam’s two major communication operators FTP and viettel, and signed the first agreement on cross-border flow of logistics data, cooperation and operation of data exchanges. During the visit to Laos, a batch of cooperation agreements were also facilitated. Among them, the signing of the China-Laos Artificial Intelligence Innovation Cooperation Center, which was signed jointly, is the first artificial intelligence cooperation innovation platform signed between China and ASEAN countries.

In the next step, Guangxi will give full play to the role of a cutting-edge window for opening up cooperation to ASEAN, actively carry out cooperation with ASEAN countries in the fields of artificial intelligence, digital economy, etc., help ASEAN countries develop artificial intelligence simultaneously, and work with ASEAN countries to move towards a better intelligent future.

First, jointly build the China-ASEAN Artificial Intelligence Innovation Cooperation Center. Relying on the Innovation Cooperation Center, we will gather technologies, enterprises and talents in the field of artificial intelligence in China, attract a group of leading domestic artificial intelligence enterprises and artificial intelligence enterprises in ASEAN countries to set up R&D centers in Nanning, carry out cutting-edge technology research and development and innovation, promote the wide application of artificial intelligence technology in various fields and scenarios, strengthen collaborative cooperation in the artificial intelligence industry chain, and create a “bridgehead” for Chinese artificial intelligence enterprises to move towards ASEAN and the “first stop” for ASEAN countries to carry out artificial intelligence cooperation with China.

The second is to expand the application scenarios of artificial intelligence. Relying on the China-ASEAN Artificial Intelligence Innovation Cooperation Center, we will actively promote Chinese companies with the ability and willingness to go overseas to deeply explore the artificial intelligence needs and application scenarios of ASEAN countries, and work with relevant ASEAN countries to create vertical application scenarios for artificial intelligence in the fields of agriculture, medical care, tourism, education, finance, logistics, etc., and promote a number of artificial intelligence industry applications that meet the local needs of various countries.

The third is to build an artificial intelligence industry ecosystem. Taking leading domestic and foreign artificial intelligence enterprises as the core, through technical standards co-research, sharing of production factors, and co-construction of market channels, we will build a cross-border industrial ecosystem of “Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen R&D + Guangxi integration + ASEAN application”, and realize cross-border coordinated development of the entire artificial intelligence industry chain such as chips, corpus, large models, and vertical applications.

Fourth, build a highland of cross-border AI talents. Give full play to the advantages of geopolitical, non-common languages, vocational education, etc., and carry out artificial intelligence training for ASEAN officials, corporate employees, international students and other groups. Use resources such as business associations, universities, etc. to promote cooperation with ASEAN in running schools, establishing training bases, organizing cultural exchanges, and carrying out scientific research cooperation. By jointly building the “China-ASEAN Artificial Intelligence Academy” and the “China-ASEAN Artificial Intelligence Innovation Research Institute”, we will work with ASEAN to cultivate talents in the field of artificial intelligence.

Reporter: From the perspective of building a closer China-ASEAN community with a shared future, what is the long-term significance of Guangxi and ASEAN countries in strengthening artificial intelligence cooperation?

Chen Gang: China and ASEAN countries have mountains and rivers, and humanities are blind dated. In October 2013, General Secretary Xi Jinping proposed to jointly build the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road with ASEAN countries and work together to build a closer China-ASEAN community with a shared future, which received positive responses from ASEAN countries. For more than a decade, China and ASEAN have worked together to be the largest trading partners, the most connotative partners, and the most dynamic strategic partners.

Artificial intelligence is an important driving force for the new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation, and has an increasingly important impact on economic development, social progress, international political and economic structure, etc. ASEAN has established the development goal of building a digital community by 2045, which is also the new core of the construction of ASEAN community and promotes artificial intelligence cooperation to meet the needs of ASEAN. Guangxi and ASEAN countries have held more consultations and dialogues on the artificial intelligence cooperation mechanism, and strengthening innovative cooperation in artificial intelligence will help further enrich and deepen the comprehensive strategic partnership between China and ASEAN and help build a closer China-ASEAN community with a shared future.

First, promote political mutual trust. Strengthen the strategic docking and policy exchanges with ASEAN artificial intelligence, establish a multi-level cooperation and communication mechanism with government departments, enterprise groups, scientific research institutes, industry chambers of commerce, etc. of ASEAN countries, participate equally and benefit equally, and share cutting-edge artificial intelligence technologies and standards, which will help further enhance political mutual trust between China and ASEAN.

The second is to promote win-win development. Relying on the China-ASEAN Artificial Intelligence Innovation Cooperation Center, we will jointly cultivate artificial intelligence professionals, empower thousands of industries with “artificial intelligence +”, promote the universal development of artificial intelligence, and use digital and intelligent technology to enhance the welfare of people in all countries.

The third is to empower the people to communicate with each other. With the help of artificial intelligence natural language processing technology, we will promote cooperation in the fields of multilingual translation, digital entertainment, digital cultural tourism, etc., promote exchanges between the two sides’ non-governmental organizations, think tanks, media, youth, etc., respect and protect the diversity of civilizations, and promote the integration and mutual understanding of the people through civilized exchanges and mutual learning.

[Editor in charge: Liu Shidong]