Jakarta. Indonesia has denied picking a side in the US-China rivalry on global artificial intelligence (AI) leadership, as Jakarta tries to strike a balance between both camps.

Indonesia is among the founding members of the China-backed World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization (WAICO). In 2025, Beijing floated a plan to create an international group to promote global governance of AI, leading to the inception of this 29-strong body about a year later.

Media reports wrote that Chinese President Xi Jinping’s speech had pitched WAICO as a rival to the US-led so-called “Pax Silica” international initiative of securing the AI-related critical supply chains. Asked whether the WAICO membership means Jakarta has chosen Beijing's camp, senior minister Airlangga Hartarto confirmed that Indonesia was still open to working with the US.

“Indonesia is also involved in the development of Pax Silica that the US has initiated. There is a process for Indonesia underway. These initiatives have different priorities and orientation, so they should not be pitted against each other,” Airlangga told a virtual press briefing from Shanghai on Friday night.

According to Airlangga, WAICO places greater emphasis on using “AI as tools”, including bridging the adoption divide among developing economies. On the other hand, Pax Silica is more on the “ecosystem side”.

He pointed out the US tariff pact that Jakarta had struck in February, while adding that the document included a specific chapter on digital trade and technology. The text itself does not make a direct mention of AI, but the aforementioned chapter would cover this fast-evolving technology.

“In regards to AI and Pax Silica, we wish to deepen our bilateral engagements,” Airlangga said.

“AI is a technological product. It is a neutral, non-political tool.”

Despite the neutral stance, Airlangga repeated Xi’s statement on how no single country should dominate AI, although both avoided naming Washington. 

WAICO will still be able to accept countries as its founding members as long as they ink the agreement by this month’s end. Airlangga refused to make a specific comment on Washington’s absence in the alliance.

Xi had told the Shanghai AI conference earlier that day that “AI development should not be a solo performance by a single country, but a symphony of international cooperation.”

[WAICO] is a major move by China to answer the call of the Global South and unite the international community together to promote AI development and governance vigorously," Xi said.

The resource-rich Indonesia, to this day, is not yet an official signatory to the Pax Silica. Members of this alliance include mineral powerhouses Australia and the Philippines. Kazakhstan is in the WAICO and Pax Silica.

Russia — another major geopolitical rival to the US — also joins WAICO. The Shanghai-based group’s establishment also came not long after Washington’s short-lived, sudden ban on foreign access to AI giant Anthropic’s cutting-edge models.