“China has entered a new phase of strategic competition. After spending more than a decade exporting roads, ports, fiber-optic cables, and digital infrastructure through the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), Xi Jinping is now seeking to export something even more consequential: China’s entire artificial intelligence (AI) ecosystem, from chips and cloud infrastructure to foundation models, standards, applications, workforce training, and governance.”
“NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang warned about China fusing the BRI and AI late last year. The deeper a country climbs into that stack, the harder it becomes to climb out. If the BRI created the debt trap, China’s latest initiative risks creating a far more consequential tech trap.”
“Xi has made a cottage industry out of launching global initiatives. His Belt and Road Initiative, announced in 2013, became Beijing’s signature vehicle for courting the Global South by financing infrastructure, securing access to critical resources, and exporting connectivity to China’s digital architecture. Since then, Xi has unveiled a succession of increasingly ambitious frameworks: the Global Development Initiative in 2021, the Global Security Initiative in 2022, the Global Civilization Initiative in 2023, and the Global Governance Initiative in 2025. Each repackages Beijing’s vision for international order, while adding another layer to an expanding architecture of Chinese influence.”
“Washington should take this challenge seriously…”
“… the decisive competition is not simply about producing the world’s most capable AI model. It is about determining whether dozens of emerging economies build their future digital infrastructure around an ecosystem ultimately shaped by the Chinese Communist Party. Beijing’s strategy rests on three mutually reinforcing pillars: shaping international standards, dominating domestic innovation, and expanding globally. If pursued successfully and left largely uncontested, this approach would advance not only Xi’s vision of national rejuvenation but also China’s long-term ambition to become the dominant power in Asia through AI-enabled technological leadership.”
https://thediplomat.com/2026/07/how-the-us-can-counter-chinas-emerging-tech-trap/