China hawk and attorney Gordon Chang argued Tuesday that any U.S. effort to regulate artificial intelligence through international cooperation would fall apart in practice, particularly when it comes to Chinese companies.
Speaking on a cable news program, Chang acknowledged the surface-level appeal of global AI coordination. “Cooperation and coordination with not just China, but all other nations in the world, that sounds like a good thing,” he said, before adding that real-world enforcement tells a different story.
Chang’s skepticism centers on the fundamental difficulty of holding Chinese firms accountable to rules set by foreign governments — a challenge that has complicated U.S. technology and trade policy for years. He suggested that any framework built on voluntary compliance or diplomatic goodwill would offer limited protection against Chinese AI development operating outside Western norms.
The remarks come as the Trump administration weighs how to structure AI governance both domestically and on the world stage. For related context on U.S.-China relations, see five things to watch in Asia as Trump prepares to meet China’s Xi.