Unitree Robotics ' robots are seen engaged in a boxing match at the Shanghai Expo Center on July 27, 2025. The Hangzhou-based firm presented a lineup of embodied artificial intelligence innovations at this year's World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC), held in Shanghai. Photo: VCG

China's Vice Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu told a roundtable of representatives from over 30 countries, including Russia, South Africa, Qatar, South Korea and Germany, that China wanted the organisation to promote pragmatic cooperation in AI and was considering putting its headquarters in Shanghai.