China Aims to Take Lead on Artificial Intelligence in Global South

 CNBC published on 17 July 2026 an article titled "Xi Pitches China as AI Partner to Developing World, Warns Against Risks and Security Overreach" by Lim Hui Jie.

China is reaching out to various blocs of nations in the Global South to build partnerships concerning AI.  The blocs include ASEAN, African Union, League of Arab States, and the BRICS.

Aljazeera published on 17 July 2026 an article titled "China's Xi Jinping Launches New AI Alliance: What Is It?"

Beijing is casting itself as a leader of the global AI order, challenging the position of the United States.  China announced last week a coalition of 29 nations called the World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization (WAICO) with a headquarters in Shanghai.  Founding members include South Africa and Senegal.

In the meantime, Washington is retreating from global cyber and AI norms-setting processes and withdrawing its financial backing for cyber diplomacy more broadly.

Impact of China's Export Push on the Global South

 The Hinrich Foundation posted on 21 April 2026 an analysis titled "AI's Warning on the Risks of China's Export Push into the Global South."

This analysis was created with the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) that looked at China's doubling down on exports as an engine for growth and its impact on the global economy.  While Chinese exports to the United States declined significantly in the past year, they have surged to Africa and ASEAN.   

AI predicts that China is transforming from being the world's consumer goods provider to the world's industrial goods provider.  China is providing the industrial backbone for Africa, the world's fastest growing region.  Beijing is ensuring that the next generation of global infrastructure is built on Chinese and not Western standards.  This situation may trigger, however, protectionism in the Global South.  

China/US/India Competition/Cooperation in the Indo/Pacific

 The National Defense University's Joint Force Quarterly published in its most recent edition an essay titled "Building an Enduring U.S.-India Partnership to Secure a Free, Open, and Prosperous Indo-Pacific Region" by Jeffrey D. Graham, U.S. Department of State.  

The author argues that China poses the greatest threat to a free and open Indo-Pacific region by using its growing economic and military power to deprive the United States of intellectual property and military secrets, to limit economic and security choices for countries in the region, and to attempt to rewrite the rules governing the Indo-Pacific.  By partnering with India, the United States can achieve the political aim of a free, open and prosperous Indo-Pacific region where a robust U.S.-India economic and security partnership counters China's aggressive behavior, disregard for international law and norms, and efforts to recast international institutions.

One Belt, One Road: China's Great Leap Outward

The European Council on Foreign Relations published on 10 June 2015 a series of analyses titled "One Belt, One Road: China's Great Leap Outward."  There are contributions by Antoine Bondaz, a PhD candidate at Sciences Po, David Cohen, former editor of the China Brief, Francois Godement, researcher at the Asia Centre, Agatha Kratz, editor of China Analysis, and Raffaello Pantucci, Royal United Services Institute.

China's One Belt, One Road initiative is a combination of a land-based Silk Road Economic Belt and a sea-based 21st Century Maritime Silk Road.  The authors, drawing on Chinese language sources, identify a series of challenges for Beijing's ambitious new Silk Roads.  Based on these analyses, it is  not at all clear where Africa fits into this initiative, including the Maritime Silk Road.  

Africa and China's Maritime Silk Road

China's concept of the Maritime Silk Road (MSR) is attracting increasing attention, some apprehension, and more than a little confusion, especially as it concerns Africa.  I ran across three recent analyses that shed useful light on the project.

The first is a working paper published by the Institute of South Asian Studies (ISAS) at the National University of Singapore in October 2014 titled "New Maritime Silk Road: Converging Interests and Regional Responses" by Rajeev Ranjan Chaturvedy, a research associate at ISAS.  The author concludes that the MSR is an effort in initiating a grand strategy with global implications.  While the MSR could be helpful in reinforcing cooperation and raising it to a new level of maritime partnership, China has yet to cultivate political and strategic trust.

Beijing Review published in February 2015 a series of views titled "Visions of the Maritime Silk Road" by Mohamed Noman Galal, former Egyptian ambassador to China, Srikanth Kondapalli, Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, and Zamroni Salim, Indonesian Institute of Sciences.  Galal welcomes the MSR.  Kondapalli suggests the MSR is a reaction to the effort by the United States to rebalance its relations in the region.  Salim wonders how the ASEAN countries will benefit from the MSR.   

The blog East by Southeast published in November 2014 a piece titled "China's Maritime Silk Road Is All  about Africa" by Brian Eyler, director of the IES Abroad Kunming Center at Yunnan University.  It points out that the goal of the MSR is to connect 12 Strategic Maritime Distribution Centers from China to South America.  Seven of the 12 proposed centers are in Africa.