Kazakhstan is keeping its place in China’s AI club.
President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev told Shanghai Cooperation Organization leaders in Bishkek on 1 September that Kazakhstan was a founder of the World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization, the China-initiated body known as WAICO, and backed wider international AI co-operation. He proposed an SCO network of AI centres linking universities, research institutes and technology firms, according to the official account of his remarks.
A day later, in a written interview with China’s state-run Xinhua news agency, he said every country should have fair access to modern technologies, knowledge and computing power. “On this issue, our position is in line with that of China,” he said. He said Astana wanted joint projects with Chinese partners in the digital economy, smart manufacturing, e-commerce, research and training. He did not mention the United States.
The sequence is the point. Kazakhstan joined Pax Silica, the US State Department’s flagship initiative on AI and supply-chain security, on 25 June in Washington. On 16 July in Shanghai it signed WAICO’s founding agreement as one of 29 states. Astana is the only country known to sit in both.
The WAICO agreement still requires ratification, acceptance or approval and deposit with China before it can take effect for Kazakhstan.
A State Department draft shows Washington is considering treating that overlap as a problem. Reuters reported on 14 August that the department had prepared a letter to the 35 signatories of June’s AI Opportunity Partnership joint statement, warning that countries could not remain in Pax Silica while joining initiatives with conflicting expectations.
The draft seen by Reuters was undated. It is not clear when, or whether, a final version will be sent. No public Kazakh reply has been identified.
Uzbekistan has now put the same question on Washington’s desk. Ambassador Furqat Sidikov told the South China Morning Post that Tashkent had formally asked the State Department to join Pax Silica about a month after signing up to WAICO. US confirmation was still required, he said. Restricting participation in other international initiatives would be “counterproductive.”
The State Department declined to discuss private diplomacy and said it welcomed growing interest in Pax Silica. Uzbekistan has not joined.
The China track has not paused. On 18 August, Kazakh and Chinese science academies discussed adapting the Panshi and Zidong Taichu models for Kazakhstan and linking them to the DeepBas scientific platform. They announced a working group. There is no published budget, licence or computing allocation.
The underlying co-operation predates the Reuters report, but the 18 August meeting came four days after it.
Tokayev has now reinforced Kazakhstan’s China-facing position without closing its US track. Uzbekistan’s pending request is the next test of whether Pax Silica will accept participants that also belong to WAICO.
Update: Kazakhstan’s vice minister for AI has since said Astana will not choose between the US and China.
