by James Kennell
The fourth Global Digital Trade Expo in Hangzhou has offered the world a striking demonstration of the scale and dynamism of China's digital transformation. From smart cities and medical innovation to entertainment, e-commerce, and artificial intelligence (AI), the exhibition revealed not only technological sophistication but also the deep integration of digitalization into everyday life.
This moment underscores a broader global truth: humanity is entering a new wave of digital development, but this wave is uneven. While some economies are already reaping the benefits in governance, commerce, and community life, others are constrained by mistrust, regulation, or lack of resources. The result is a growing divergence that risks entrenching inequality in the digital age.
China's rapid progress is rooted in openness. The widespread application of open-source platforms -- exemplified by Alibaba's Tongyi Qianwen family of large language models -- has created fertile ground for developers and entrepreneurs to innovate on shared foundations. Hangzhou's "Six Little Dragons," including the meteoric rise of DeepSeek in generative AI, highlight the vitality of this ecosystem. This approach contrasts sharply with closed, proprietary models and demonstrates a pathway for AI to serve as a global public good.
On the other side of the Eurasia, the European Union's Artificial Intelligence Act, alongside the General Data Protection Regulation, reflects a characteristically cautious regulatory posture. The "Brussels Effect" has long allowed the European Union to shape global standards by leveraging access to its vast consumer market.
Yet in an era of rising South-South trade and renewed protectionism in advanced economies, the reach of this effect may diminish. Critics warn that the new act risks stifling innovation by imposing heavy compliance burdens on both open- and closed-source models alike, despite their vastly different contexts.
The economic stakes are high. Across much of the Global North, sluggish growth and persistent inflation demand fresh engines of dynamism. AI, as a "general-purpose technology," holds the potential to reshape society as profoundly as the Industrial Revolution or the advent of the internet. But the benefits and the risks will not be evenly distributed. The governance choices made now will determine whether AI becomes a tool of empowerment or exclusion, of shared prosperity or widening disparity.
The discussions at the 2025 Forum of the Exhibition Industry, one of the sub-forums of this year's expo, reinforced this urgency. The Global Alliance for Trade in Services highlighted the dynamism of China's domestic economy, driven by the digitalization of both consumer markets and business-to-business transactions. Yet the forum also warned that growing protectionism threatens the global flow of services and knowledge, underscoring the need for new forms of international cooperation.
What emerges from these discussions is clear: new partnerships are needed to create a people-centered digital economy. Building equitable frameworks for the governance of AI is not optional but essential. As the world approaches an inflection point in digital development, the Global Governance Initiative proposed at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Tianjin Summit points toward a more inclusive and cooperative model of growth.
If digitalization is to live up to its promise, it must be harnessed not only for efficiency and profit but for human development and fairness. The challenge is formidable, but so too is the opportunity: to shape a digital era that bridges divides rather than deepens them, and to ensure that the benefits of AI and digital trade are shared across nations and peoples. This is precisely what China is striving to do.
Editor's note: James Kennell is chair of the International Association for Events Studies and the head of Surrey Hospitality and Tourism Management at the University of Surrey.
The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Xinhua News Agency.
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