China's tech rise, stemming from decades of opening up and participation in globalization, has opened the doors for the Global South to participate in the digital revolution, said business and technology strategy expert Denis Simon.
Speaking in a panel discussion on China Global Television (CGTN), Simon, senior lecturer at Duke University, stressed that China's immense and rapidly growing innovation capabilities did not come about by accident, but through decades of planning.
"We're now experiencing a structural change in what we would call the global innovation system. So China's rise is not an aberration. If you would have tracked the statements from Chinese leaders since 1979 when they opened up and engaged in economic reform, there was a sustained commitment to close the gap between China and the rest of the world," he said.
What began as an effort to close a 20 to 25-year developmental gap has now positioned the country at the forefront of cutting-edge fields like artificial intelligence, with implications far beyond its borders.
"It was a 20 or 25-year gap when this all began, and gradually but steadily, through policy reforms, through changes, through adjustments. And in fact, China has been one of the biggest beneficiaries of globalization. Its participation in the international science and technology affairs, in regional science and technology affairs, the sending of young people overseas for advanced education, all of these things have helped contribute to a sustained shift from the 'factory to the world' kind of model, now to an innovation driven economy," said Simon.
The expert pointed to China's breakthroughs in AI as evidence that the country is capable setting new industry standards, noting that the feat has given hope to many other aspiring nations.
"And we see probably the most recent case of DeepSeek, where China has kind of breakthrough in the world of AI language models, that China now can have different models of innovation, not simply copycat innovation, but also in some cases disruptive innovation. Recently I talked to two people from east Africa who said that they thought that their countries were shut out of the AI revolution because the humongous costs in terms of GPUs and investment dollars. But with the DeepSeek success and the open architecture they see now that Global South countries now can participate, maybe even fully engaged in this AI revolution," he said.
As China cements its role in AI and other high-tech sectors, its model of innovation could redefine not just its own economy, but the broader landscape of global technological equity, Simon added.
China rises from beneficiary of globalization to innovation pioneer: expert
