Conceptual diagram of AI Photo: VCG

The US is reportedly pressuring dozens of countries to take sides in the global artificial‑intelligence competition with China, according to a leaked US State Department draft letter seen by Reuters. The coercive side-taking requirement, observers said, marks a typical zero-sum geopolitical maneuver that may split global AI industrial and supply chain and undermine multilateral technological collaboration. As AI development calls for multipolarity, the US, by forcing countries to take sides, is embarking on a futile geopolitical gamble that is doomed to fail.

The US is preparing to ‌tell dozens of countries they must pick sides in the artificial intelligence race with China, claiming that they will be excluded from a US-led AI coalition if they also sign up for China’s AI framework, according to a US official and an internal draft reviewed by Reuters.

The draft letter, prepared by the State Department, is addressed to the 35 signatories of a US "AI Opportunity Statement" signed in June, which includes members of the non-binding Pax Silica framework and other countries that have expressed a desire to align cooperation on AI with Washington, Reuters reported.

"To be part of everything is to be part of nothing. Signature of the Pax Silica Declaration is not merely a membership subscription, but a commitment," the letter says, urging countries to "choose deliberately" on AI.

"It cannot be held alongside membership in duplicative initiatives whose expectations conflict with our own," the letter said, without specifically mentioning China.

Reuters said it could not determine when the US intends to send the letter or whether it might be amended before sending. The draft was undated.

Launched by the US last year, Pax Silica focuses on consolidating Western dominance over AI model supply chains, semiconductor production and critical mineral resources. Nearly two dozen countries have joined the mechanism, including Japan, South Korea and Australia, according to Reuters.

Kazakhstan, a Central Asian state rich in strategic critical minerals, has so far become the only country participating in both US and Chinese AI frameworks, according to Reuters.

US officials drafted the letter to make clear that "you can't have it both ways," the US official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity given ongoing internal discussions on the issue.

Washington's move to pressure some countries into taking sides in the global AI race lays bare its deep-seated anxiety over China-US tech competition, Li Yong, an executive council member of the China Society for WTO Studies, told the Global Times on Sunday.

As China's open-source AI models achieve rapid breakthroughs and advance AI as a global public good, Washington is attempting to politicize technological cooperation and weaponize supply-chain rules to suppress China's AI development, while forcing countries into binary choices that run against the common interests of most economies, Li said.

The US wants to cut China off from critical resources and hardware supplies through side-taking demands. "Essentially, Washington wants a divided AI world by drawing a digital curtain to split the global market in two, and gain a competitive edge in AI via geopolitical containment," Li said. "This is nothing but a political calculation. It cannot reverse the irreversible trend of advancement for artificial intelligence as a cutting-edge technology."

No country wants a semiconductor ecosystem dictated entirely by the US, in which all nations have to accept Washington’s high‑handed rules. Instead, AI development demands a multipolar world where countries are granted room for independent choices and growth. This preference for multipolarity means Washington’s take‑it‑or‑leave‑it demand is doomed to be a futile geopolitical gamble, Li said.

Experts noted that the US push to build a supply-chain alliance excluding China runs counter to the interests of most countries, and that the prospect of a bipolar AI world divided into two rival blocs would similarly harm the broader international community.

“The Washington-driven initiatives may create two separate sets of AI standards, application ecosystems and geopolitical camps. This directly contradicts the fundamental objective of making AI deliver benefits for all humanity," Li said. “Such coercive tactics merely serve Washington's unilateral interests, stifle global AI advancement and shift the resulting costs onto the entire world.”

Unlike the US’ exclusive and confrontational model, China has rolled out a series of inclusive, practical and open global AI cooperation initiatives to promote shared development.

Twenty-nine countries signed an agreement in Shanghai in July to establish the World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization (WAICO). It aims to promote international cooperation and global governance on AI, ensuring that AI is beneficial, safe and fair, thereby promoting its healthy and orderly development to benefit all humanity.

In the next five years, China will provide developing countries with 5,000 opportunities in AI training and seminar programs. China will develop international AI application cooperation centers with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the League of Arab States, the African Union, the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and BRICS. China will enable 30 countries to use the AI-powered meteorological warning system, or MAZU, to safeguard homes around the world.

“It shows that China stands ready to work with all countries to help less‑advanced AI regions catch up. We will share our extensive practical experience in AI applications via open‑source models, so that AI technologies can benefit more nations,” Li said. “In the long run, this path will win global recognition, as it prioritizes the well‑being of all humanity, instead of merely pursuing victory in AI competition for a single country.”