US Demands 35 Nations Choose Between AI Coalitions

The United States Department of State has drafted a letter to 35 signatories of the AI Opportunity Statement, including Japan, Australia, and South Korea, demanding they choose between the U.S.-led Pax Silica initiative and a competing framework launched by China. The leaked draft warns that countries attempting to hedge between the two powers will be excluded from Pax Silica, a coalition established in 2025 to secure supply chains for semiconductors, AI models, and critical minerals.

Washington's ultimatum follows the July launch of the World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization by Chinese President Xi Jinping, which promotes open-weight technology. The U.S. is particularly concerned by Kazakhstan, the only known nation to have joined both blocs, due to its significant critical mineral reserves. By forcing a choice, the U.S. aims to starve China of resources and prevent it from achieving military or economic dominance through AI.

The Government of China has condemned the move, with the Chinese embassy in Washington stating that politicizing technology will stifle global AI advances. Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian rejected the formation of AI camps, arguing that nations have the right to select partners based on their own national conditions and digital sovereignty. The tension arrives as Chinese AI gains global traction; Alibaba's Qwen open-weight models recently became the world's most downloaded, surpassing those of Meta and Google with over 3 billion downloads in six months.