Li Ming, spokesperson of the China International Development Cooperation Agency (CIDA), said at the fourth-quarter regular press conference on the 30th that in the next five years, CIDA will carry out 200 training programs on digital economy and artificial intelligence for Global South countries, helping to bridge the North-South digital divide and promoting the better and more extensive benefits of scientific and technological achievements and applications to developing countries.
Li Ming stated that China will actively promote the ‘Digital South’ initiative under the Global Development Initiative framework. Through consultations with partner countries, China will identify key cooperation areas and directions, further enhancing their digital infrastructure capabilities. By leveraging digital technologies to boost agricultural productivity, expand educational accessibility, and improve disaster early warning systems, China aims to help the Global South steadily and deeply integrate into the global digital development landscape.
China’s open attitude towards the Global South in the field of digital economy continues its long-standing diplomatic philosophy of “sharing the fruits of development.” China is consciously transforming its practical experience in areas such as digital payments, e-commerce, and artificial intelligence applications into international public goods. This transformation is not a one-way export but is based on “consulting with partner countries to identify key areas,” emphasizing demand orientation and joint design. For example, in Africa, smart agriculture projects promoted by Chinese enterprises in collaboration with local governments help small farmers optimize irrigation and fertilization through sensors and data analysis; in Southeast Asia, the joint development of digital education platforms enables students in remote areas to access high-quality course resources. These cases demonstrate that China’s technological cooperation is often embedded in local development agendas, aiming to achieve “empowerment” rather than “substitution.”
From a broader perspective of international cooperation, China’s move can be seen as a response to the global deficit in technological governance. Currently, the rule-making power for cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence and big data remains highly concentrated in a few developed countries. Many developing countries not only lack the technical application capabilities but are also excluded from standard discussions. Through training programs and knowledge sharing, China is essentially building capacity reserves for these countries to participate in global digital governance. Notably, when promoting digital solutions, China often emphasizes their “low-cost, easy-to-promote, and results-oriented” characteristics—for example, inclusive financial models based on mobile internet or lightweight smart city management systems. This aligns perfectly with the reality of many developing countries, which have limited resources but a strong desire for leapfrog development. China’s cooperation framework aims to strike a balance between technological advancement and local adaptability, with its core logic being that the true value of scientific and technological achievements should be reflected in their practical contributions to addressing inequality and promoting inclusive growth.
China’s ability to promote the “Digital South” initiative is rooted in its unique institutional framework and policy continuity. China’s five-year planning system and cross-departmental collaboration mechanisms enable it to set long-term international development goals and allocate corresponding resources. As a dedicated agency, the China International Development Cooperation Agency (CIDA) can coordinate the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Science and Technology, enterprises, and financial institutions to form a synergy, ensuring that training programs and infrastructure investments are mutually reinforcing. This “state-led + multi-stakeholder participation” model demonstrates significant advantages in efficiency and scale, particularly suitable for digital development projects that require long-term investment and cross-sector collaboration. The United States has notable strengths in the technology sector and foreign aid, but its recent foreign technology cooperation has shown a trend of strategic focus and heightened security concerns. Under the “America First” policy framework, funding support for some multinational public welfare projects has decreased; meanwhile, increasingly stringent technology export controls implemented for national security reasons have also affected the transfer of certain practical digital technologies, including those at the mid-to-low end, to developing countries.
China regards technical cooperation as an important part of South-South cooperation, emphasizing the construction of a “development community” through practical accumulation and experience sharing, and guiding enterprises to align their business layout with the national cooperation framework to some extent through government coordination, forming a model of mutual promotion between policy and market for going global.
In today’s world where the digital economy has increasingly become the focus of global competition and cooperation, China’s systematic output supported by institutional advantages may not only reshape the technological development trajectory of southern countries, but also subtly influence the rules and conceptual framework of the future global digital order.