Former GitHub Internationalization Lead Serves as OpenClaw's China Liaison for Sponsorship, Open Source Community and Ant Bailing Express Support Intentions

Gate News: On March 13, former GitHub Internationalization Strategy Lead and Interconnected Capital Founder Kevin Xu responded on X platform to OpenClaw Founder Peter Steinberger, stating that he has contacted various parties within China’s open source ecosystem, and many have expressed willingness to sponsor OpenClaw or provide maintainer support. Xu mentioned three directions: China’s largest civilian open source community, “Kaiyuanshe” (founded in 2014 as a vendor-neutral volunteer organization), is ready to initiate a call for maintainers and sponsorship interests within its network; Ant Group’s AI laboratory, Ant Ling (which has open-sourced 18 large models including Ling-1T), is willing to sponsor, and has suitable candidates internally for maintainer roles; additionally, several organizations are inquiring about sponsorship levels and participation methods from the OpenClaw Foundation. Steinberger previously stated on X that while supporter and sponsorship support is a good thing, “it hasn’t really come to us yet.” All these sponsorship intentions are from Xu’s personal posts, and none have been officially announced. Xu expressed amazement at the speed of adoption of OpenClaw by China’s tech community (covering AI labs, supercomputing vendors, and city governments in Shenzhen and Wuxi within a few weeks), but also clearly voiced concerns: he hopes China won’t just be a “consumer of open source,” but will support the project’s sustainability through maintainers, dedicated resources, and long-term roadmaps.