What happened
At the World Economic Forum's 17th Annual Meeting of New Champions ('Summer Davos') in Dalian on 24 June 2026, Chinese Premier Li Qiang publicly warned that the world risks 'losing control' of AI if regulations are not put in place promptly. Li called on governments to keep pace with frontier technology developments and signalled that China supports internationally coordinated regulatory standards. The statement does not announce a new binding Chinese regulation but represents a high-level Chinese government call-to-action at a multilateral forum.
Why it matters
A Chinese Premier's public advocacy for urgent global AI regulation at a major international economic forum signals that Beijing sees coordinated international governance as aligned with its interests — particularly as US export controls on Anthropic models and GPT-5.6 deepen the technology bifurcation. It may presage further Chinese domestic rulemaking (following the April 2026 CAC Interim Measures on Anthropomorphic AI Interaction Services and the June 2026 State Council outbound-investment rules) and multilateral positioning on AI governance standards.
Action needed
Monitor for follow-on Chinese CAC or State Council rulemaking; track multilateral AI governance fora (G7, UN) for Chinese regulatory proposals that may affect cross-border AI deployment standards.