The Globe and Mail reports in its Saturday, July 18, edition that China's top leader, Xi Jinping, recently emphasized the nation's goal to influence the development of artificial intelligence, positioning China as a supporter of an open approach to the technology and a reliable partner for developing countries. A New York Times dispatch to The Globe reports that his remarks signal China's intention to compete as a major global AI superpower. Mr. Xi said that "AI development should not be a solo performance by a single country, but a symphony of global collaboration." The technology, he said, must be shared by developing nations or raise the threat of "new historical injustices." China is often seen as lagging behind the U.S. in AI, but it is closing the gap, especially through open-source software from leading companies like DeepSeek, Moonshot and Zhipu. Their AI systems are closing the gap with American AI chatbots and question-answering programs, including Microsoft-backed OpenAI's ChatGPT, Anthropic's Claude and Google's Gemini. Chinese company Moonshot launched the Kimi K3 on Friday, claiming it matches the performance of American models from Anthropic and OpenAI, causing a stir in financial markets.