BEIJING, Nov 1 (Reuters) - Chinese President Xi Jinping

took centrestage at a meeting of APEC leaders on Saturday to

push a proposal for a global body to govern artificial

intelligence and position China as an alternative to the United

States on trade cooperation.

The comments were the first by the Chinese leader on an

initiative Beijing unveiled this year, while the United States

has rejected efforts to regulate AI in international bodies.

Xi said a World Artifical Intelligence Cooperation

Organization could set governance rules and boost cooperation,

making AI a "public good for the international community".

In remarks published by the official news agency Xinhua, Xi

added, "Artificial intelligence is of great significance for

future development and should be made for the benefit of people

in all countries and regions."

Chinese officials have said the organisation could be based

in the commercial hub of Shanghai.

U.S. President Donald Trump did not attend the APEC leaders'

summit in the South Korean city of Gyeongju, flying back to

Washington directly after a meeting with Xi.

The two leaders' talks yielded a one-year deal to partially

roll back trade and technology controls that had spiked tension

between the world's two biggest economies.

In Trump's absence, analysts had expected Xi to use the APEC

meeting to promote China as champion for its own brand of

multilateral cooperation on trade and economic development.

While advanced chips made by California-based Nvidia ( NVDA )

are central to the AI boom, China-based developer

DeepSeek has rolled out lower-cost models taken up by Beijing in

a push for what it calls "algorithmic sovereignty".

Xi also urged APEC to promote the "free circulation" of

green technologies, a cluster of industries from batteries to

solar panels that China dominates.

APEC members approved a joint declaration and pacts on AI

and the challenge of ageing populations at the meeting.

China will host the 2026 APEC summit in Shenzhen, a major

hub for manufacturing, from robotics to electric car production.

Xi said the city of nearly 18 million had been a fishing

village until it boomed as one of China's first special economic

zones in the 1980s.

APEC is a consultative forum of 21 nations representing half

of global trade.