State Department Drafts a Letter Telling 35 Partner Countries They Cannot Join Both the U.S. and Chinese AI Blocs

A draft State Department letter reviewed by Reuters warns 35 signatories of a U.S. “AI Opportunity Statement” that they will be excluded from the U.S.-led Pax Silica initiative if they also join China’s competing AI framework. “To be part of everything is to be part of nothing,” the draft says. Kazakhstan is the only country known to have joined both.

Pax Silica aims to secure supply chains for AI models, semiconductors and critical minerals. Forcing partners to choose would convert a voluntary framework into a loyalty test.

Reuters could not determine when or whether the letter will be sent, and the draft was undated. The State Department said it would not comment on “purportedly leaked internal documents.” China’s embassy said such actions “will only stifle global AI advances.”