The U.S. State Department, according to Reuters, is preparing to force countries to freeze out China, if they want to work with the U.S. on AI projects. The 2025 “Pax Silica” initiative was marketed to countries, as Reuters put it, “to strengthen supply chains involving semiconductors, critical minerals and the infrastructure required for advanced AI,” and around two dozen joined in, including Japan, South Korea and Australia. However, when Kazakhstan—a country that could actually provide critical-mineral resources to the alliance—also joined China’s rival AI initiative, alarms seem to have been raised. And that tells the story, as strengthening supply chains are now taking second place to geopolitics.
A draft State Department letter addressed to 35 countries that, as of this June, signed an AI Opportunity Statement, instructs the countries: “To be part of everything is to be part of nothing. Signature of the Pax Silica Declaration is not merely a membership subscription, but a commitment.” Such membership cannot coexist with competing initiatives, so governments have to choose.
