How the Global South can rise above the fray as the West fractures

One of the central focuses of last week’s “two sessions”, China’s annual parliamentary meetings, is the increasingly prominent role of private technology companies in driving the country’s development. Indeed, a decade after the launch of the “Made in China 2025” initiative, most of its targets have been achieved, positioning the country as a global technological powerhouse.

Through the Digital Silk Road and companies like DeepSeek, China’s advancements are helping to propel the Global South’s Fourth Industrial Revolution, enabling countries in Africa, for example, to leapfrog development stages in their race to embrace the artificial intelligence (AI) revolution.

If President Xi Jinping’s “Made in China 2025” initiative has met most of its goals, President Trump’s second attempt to “Make America Great Again” (Maga) is off to a contentious and rocky start. For instance, efforts to improve government efficiency through the Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) programme have drawn criticism, with some accusing the Trump administration of steering US democracy towards authoritarianism.