China's outward turn is equally visible in technology. At the 2025 Consumer Electronics Show, Chinese firms positioned themselves as advocates of open-source artificial intelligence. Alibaba released its Qwen series as open-weight models, catalyzing tens of thousands of derivative adaptations worldwide. DeepSeek followed with openly licensed reasoning models designed to lower entry barriers to advanced AI capabilities.

　　By contributing to the global digital commons and encouraging collaborative innovation, China is positioning itself as a counterweight to technological concentration. The proposition is that AI, like earlier general-purpose technologies, should function as shared development infrastructure rather than an exclusive strategic asset.

　　China's development strategy today seeks deeper integration -- economic, institutional and technological -- with a world in need of stabilizing anchors. By widening service-sector access, strengthening domestic consumption, granting zero-tariff treatment to the developing countries, and contributing to the digital commons, China is advancing a model in which national development and the provision of global public goods reinforce one another.

　　Developing countries are faced with a choice in today's world. Some paths are characterized by conditional access, sudden reversals and transactional hierarchy, while the path China is progressively constructing emphasizes predictability, capacity-building and partnership. In a turbulent century, serious consideration is needed in the face of this choice.

　　Editor's note: Maya Majueran serves as the director of the Belt and Road Initiative Sri Lanka, an independent and pioneering organization with strong expertise in Belt and Road Initiative advice and support.

　　The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Xinhua News Agency.