China is shaping the future of open‑source technology – including AI

China is advancing its own open-source technology ecosystem, including artificial intelligence, as part of a national strategy to reduce foreign dependence and gain competitive advantage, according to Christopher K. Tong, a China expert and open-source researcher at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. The country's efforts, which include government-backed projects like Red Flag Linux and Kylin, could influence global products and services, but may face trust challenges due to past intellectual property theft allegations.

As you read this article on your computer or smartphone, you are almost certainly using open-source technology https://www.computer.org/csdl/magazine/co/2021/02/09353517/1r8kwgBjU9W in some way. It forms the foundation https://qz.com/open-source-projects-that-run-the-internet of the global digital economy, from operating systems and web servers to databases and encryption protocols. While the United States and Europe have led the development of open-source technology, China is championing its own alternatives. The Chinese government has made open-source development part of its national technology strategy https://merics.org/en/report/china-bets-open-source-technologies-boost-domestic-innovation . Chinese companies and institutions have been active in redefining how open-source technology is being developed https://hai.stanford.edu/assets/files/hai-digichina-issue-brief-beyond-deepseek-chinas-diverse-open-weight-ai-ecosystem-policy-implications.pdf , licensed https://cepa.org/article/the-ai-kill-switch-dangerous-chinese-open-source and deployed https://merics.org/en/comment/open-source-trouble-chinas-efforts-decouple-foreign-it-technologies . China’s open-source strategy could influence products and services used by people around the world, particularly as artificial intelligence becomes an everyday technology. The success of China’s efforts may depend on building global trust, however. Chinese companies, backed by the government, have long been known to acquire advanced technology through intellectual property theft https://www.fbi.gov/file-repository/china-exec-summary-risk-to-corporate-america-2019.pdf and by applying pressure in joint ventures https://www.uscc.gov/sites/default/files/Research/How%20Chinese%20Companies%20Facilitate%20Tech%20Transfer%20from%20the%20US.pdf and licensing agreements https://ustr.gov/sites/default/files/enforcement/301Investigations/301%20Draft%20Exec%20Summary%203.22.ustrfinal.pdf . Open-source technology is increasingly becoming an arena of strategic competition between countries. As a China expert and open-source researcher https://mlli.umbc.edu/dr-christopher-k-tong/ , I believe the countries that lead the technical and legal standards governing open-source technology will gain a competitive edge for decades to come. China’s long road to open-source The open-source movement has taken various forms, from collaborations https://www.gnu.org/gnu/manifesto.html aimed at bypassing corporate monopolies to business strategies for developing products quickly. Open-source software https://opensource.org/about/history-of-the-open-source-initiative has allowed developers around the world to reuse and improve on shared code. Linux https://www.linux.com/what-is-linux/ , the core software powering Android phones and most of the internet, is an open-source technology. RISC-V https://riscv.org/about , an emerging alternative to Intel and Arm chip designs, and next-generation mobile network interfaces https://www.nist.gov/open-radio-access-network-open-ran are also open-source. Early Chinese engagements with open-source aimed to develop technologies that were free from foreign control. A government-run software institute developed Red Flag Linux https://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/view/331 as an alternative to Microsoft’s Windows operating system, which the government saw as costly to maintain and vulnerable to foreign intelligence gathering. A Chinese military university later created Kylin https://techhq.com/news/open-source-china-linux-kylin-kernel-desktop-de-microsoft , an operating system for the People’s Liberation Army https://theconversation.com/china-turns-to-private-hackers-as-it-cracks-down-on-online-activists-on-tiananmen-square-anniversary-230510 and other government organizations. In recent years, Chinese tech companies have embraced open-source technology as a way around sanctions and export controls. After the U.S. government blacklisted the telecom giant Huawei https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/aug/30/huawei-mate-30-google-what-does-it-mean for its ties to the Chinese military, Google revoked the company’s access to licensed services and apps. But Huawei used Android’s open-source code to maintain its smartphone operating system. Eventually, Huawei developed an alternative called HarmonyOS NEXT and released its own open-source version as OpenHarmony https://jamestown.org/open-source-technology-and-prc-national-strategy-part-ii . Today, Chinese leader Xi Jinping is stressing the importance of science and technology independence and self-strengthening https://chinamediaproject.org/2021/05/31/chinas-turns-up-the-volume-on-self-reliance , known as keji zili ziqiang. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and other government bodies have supported domestic platforms http://cset.georgetown.edu/publication/china-electronics-industry-plan-2025-2026 , such as the state-guided OpenAtom Foundation https://jamestown.org/open-source-technology-and-prc-national-strategy-part-i , for open-source technology, and Gitee https://finance.yahoo.com/news/gitee-chinas-answer-github-review-093000997.html , a Chinese alternative to GitHub https://docs.github.com/en/get-started/start-your-journey/what-is-github , a popular repository for open-source software. Domestic open-source operating systems such as openKylin https://www.openkylin.top/community/aboutus-en.html and openEuler https://www.openeuler.org/en/community/organization play a key role in securing China’s information technology infrastructure https://www.aspistrategist.org.au/chinas-use-of-foreign-open-source-software-and-how-to-counter-it . China is also positioning itself as an indispensable player in setting global standards for open-source hardware. For example, its work on RISC-V https://jamestown.org/examining-chinas-grand-strategy-for-risc-v allows Chinese technology companies to reduce dependence on foreign intellectual property in semiconductors. Open hardware standards make Chinese companies less vulnerable to export controls https://cset.georgetown.edu/article/risc-v-what-it-is-and-why-it-matters and bans https://www.wsj.com/world/china/china-ai-chips-race-949050d0 . China’s strategy of “ overtaking on a turn https://ecfr.eu/publication/the china dream digital technology in the age of xi ,” or closely following and then passing the front-runner, appears to be paying off. Chinese telecommunications companies, already leaders in 5G mobile network technology https://www.csis.org/blogs/strategic-technologies-blog/next-steps-close-gap-china-licensed-spectrum-commercial-5g , are working with an international alliance https://www.o-ran.org/about to shape 6G https://www.itu.int/hub/2026/03/imt-2030-technical-requirements-for-the-6g-future , the next-generation standard for mobile communications. The Open-RAN standard the alliance is developing has complex implications for cybersecurity https://www.scsp.ai/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Open-Source-Hardware-and-New-Vectors-of-National-Cybersecurity-Risk.docx-1.pdf and strategic competition https://ecipe.org/insights/chinas-participation-o-ran . Open-source AI: With Chinese characteristics? The contest over AI has moved beyond export controls of AI chips https://www.cfr.org/articles/new-ai-chip-export-policy-china-strategically-incoherent-and-unenforceable toward who leads open-source AI development https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/30/world/asia/as-chinas-ai-gets-stronger-it-poses-new-risks-to-beijing.html . Xi is expected to discuss AI with U.S. President Donald Trump on his visit https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/trump-says-xi-will-visit-us-september-24-2026-07-23/ to the U.S. in September. Major Chinese AI models such as Qwen, DeepSeek, Kimi and GLM are generally open-weight https://opensource.org/ai/open-weights , not open-source https://opensource.org/ai/open-source-ai-definition , meaning that the model software and its final parameters are made available, but not the training data and methodology. AI companies https://llm-stats.com/organizations often offer models in proprietary, open-weight and smaller open-source versions https://epoch.ai/data/ai-models?view=graph&tab=notable&colorCategorization=Model+accessibility . The White House https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/04/technology/ai-washington-regulation-whiplash.html and Silicon Valley https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/25/technology/open-source-silicon-valley-china.html remain split over the prospects of open-source AI. Anthropic https://www.cnbc.com/2026/06/24/anthropic-alibaba-distillation-campaign.html and OpenAI https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/jan/29/openai-chatgpt-deepseek-china-us-ai-models have accused Chinese open-weight model makers of large-scale, unauthorized distillation https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/06/technology/ai-distillation-china.html , a technique used to copy proprietary AI models. The Trump administration and U.S. lawmakers have proposed restricting access to Chinese open-weight models https://www.axios.com/2026/07/20/ai-us-china-open-source-kimi , and some federal agencies and state governments have already moved to prohibit employees and contractors https://www.conference-board.org/research/ceo-center-newsletters-alerts/state-and-federal-governments-deepseak-ban from using DeepSeek, for security reasons. Users of Chinese AI face risks that are not widely understood. Chinese open-weight models are designed to align with government censorship and propaganda https://chinaselectcommittee.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/selectcommitteeontheccp.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/DeepSeek%20Final.pdf . While Chinese models are often distributed under standard licenses, such as MIT https://opensource.org/license/mit and Apache 2.0 https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0 , some impose additional compliance obligations. Moonshot’s Kimi K3 model license https://huggingface.co/moonshotai/Kimi-K3/blob/main/LICENSE , for example, requires licensees exceeding specific revenue or user thresholds to “prominently” display the Kimi model name. MiniMax M3’s community license https://huggingface.co/MiniMaxAI/MiniMax-M3/blob/main/LICENSE lists uses prohibited by “applicable laws or regulations,” raising questions over which jurisdictions apply. Bilingual licenses developed under Chinese government guidance https://perma.cc/Z3R4-GL3Q give Chinese users more access and Chinese courts more control. These include the Mulan Permissive Software License, version 2.0 https://opensource.org/license/MulanPSL-2.0 and the OpenAtom Model License, version 1.0 https://www.openatom.org/law/licence . Both are written in English and Chinese, but the Chinese version prevails in cases of conflicting interpretation https://www.economist.com/china/2025/01/28/america-and-china-are-talking-but-much-gets-lost-in-translation , especially in Chinese jurisdictions https://www.forbes.com/sites/jillgoldenziel/2026/03/02/chinas-cybersecurity-law-just-got-tougher-the-us-is-fighting-back . Open-source technology has always been global The U.S. regulates AI through a patchwork of federal https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/artificial-intelligence-legislation-tracker and state https://www.ncsl.org/financial-services/artificial-intelligence-legislation-database laws. Internationally recognized frameworks may offer a better approach to governing open-source AI. Examples include the European Union’s Artificial Intelligence Act https://artificialintelligenceact.eu and multilateral initiatives such as UNESCO’s Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence https://www.unesco.org/en/artificial-intelligence/recommendation-ethics , the Hiroshima AI Process https://www.soumu.go.jp/hiroshimaaiprocess/en/index.html and the International Standards Organization’s ISO/IEC 42001 https://www.iso.org/standard/42001 . Open-source technology could also benefit from such governance.