Xi Jinping calls for global cooperation on technology at Zhongguancun as Beijing courts top scientists

Chinese President Xi Jinping said it is important “more than ever” for nations to deepen cooperation and share technology in his message to a big tech forum in Beijing, as the country tries to woo global scientists to work jointly on areas such as artificial intelligence.

In his congratulatory letter to the 2023 Zhongguancun Forum, Xi wrote that China is committed to a “win-win strategy of opening-up” and the country is ready to join hands with others to promote sci-tech innovation, according to the letter published by the official Xinhua news agency.

The message comes as the US-China technology rivalry is deepening, with Washington and its allies tightening export restrictions to China. Meanwhile, Chinese scientists are also coming under greater political scrutiny in the US, with Beijing keen for many of them to return home.

The theme of this year’s forum in Zhongguancun, a major technology hub in Beijing’s Haidian District styled as China’s Silicon Valley, is “open cooperation for a shared future”, and the six-day event has attracted a long list of eminent Chinese and overseas scientists and entrepreneurs.

Microsoft founder Bill Gates, who spoke via a live-streaming feed, said at the forum on Friday that the theme of open cooperation “could not be timelier”, echoing Xi’s message.

Gates said global issues such as the Covid-19 pandemic, along with other challenges from food security to child welfare, do not stay within national boundaries. “So we need to commit to working across boundaries to address them,” Gates said.