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Commentary
Wall Street Journal

China’s Ambitious AI Blueprint

walter_russell_mead
walter_russell_mead
Ravenel B. Curry III Distinguished Fellow in Strategy and Statesmanship
Walter Russell Mead
Customers place an order at a robot-operated coffee kiosk on March 25, 2026, in Shenzhen, China. (Getty Images)
Caption
Customers place an order at a robot-operated coffee kiosk on March 25, 2026, in Shenzhen, China. (Getty Images)

Haggling in Switzerland’s Bürgenstock Resort Lake Lucerne over the memorandum of understanding between the U.S. and Iran has dominated headlines, but the real news this month is coming out of China.

That news was easy to miss. Couched in the often impenetrable prose of Chinese bureaucrats and prefaced with the ritual genuflections toward Xi Jinping’s expressed vision for his country, “Implementation Opinions on Accelerating the Development of  ‘AI+Consumption’ ” doesn’t strike the casual observer as a gripping read.

Read the full article in the Wall Street Journal.