S1 2026 Individual Assignment 2 Topic B
Choose only one topic. You can choose either Topic A or Topic B.
Each topic is linked to two longer media articles that reflect different approaches to the
challenges facing globalizing Chinese enterprises. In a first step, compare how these two
articles approach the topic and what solutions they propose. In a second step read the two
articles in the context of the academic articles. From this broader perspective, consider how the
two media articles relate to the underlying issue of the future of globalisation.
You must reference at least these two academic readings (see Canvas Reading List):
Vertinsky, I., Kuang, Y., Zhou, D., & Cui, V. (2023). The political economy and dynamics of
bifurcated world governance and the decoupling of value chains: An alternative
perspective. Journal of International Business Studies, 54(7), 1351 – 1377.
Altman, S. A., Bastian, C. R., & Fattedad, D. (2024). Challenging the deglobalization narrative:
Global flows have remained resilient through successive shocks. Journal of International
Business Policy, 7(4), 416-439.
The structure of your critical reflection
1. Short introduction of one sentence or so, stating the question you want to answer and
why it is relevant.
2. In the first step, students are asked to critically compare the two media articles with
their different perspectives and reflecting on the intent of the articles, background,
specific arguments and points of agreement and disagreement. You are welcome to
prompt Copilot or a USYD approved AI software to compare the two articles along the
above criteria. If you choose this path, you must add your own evaluatiuon of the AI
generated comparison.
3. For the second step, consult the academic readings and the lecture content and
analyse the media articles against this background. For example, you may find that the
two media articles, even with their different viewpoints, only cover superficial or limited
aspects of underlying issues discussed in the academic writings.
This step relies on your own individual critical understanding of the subject matter
acquired through your own study and research. This second step is the main analytical
part where you can show your intellectual understanding. AI will be of little use for this
analytical part. AI use is not recommended here and is easily detected when marking.
4. Short conclusion of a few sentences, summarising your answers to the question raised
in the Introduction.
The total word length is 1,250 words. The word length for the individual sections is indicative.
1. Short Introduction: (50 words)
2. Comparison of two articles (500 words)
- Summary of the AI assisted comparison (200 words)
- Your own evaluation of the comparison (300 words)
3. Your analysis of how the articles relate to lecture content and academic readings (500
words)
4. Short conclusion: (50 words)
Article 1
https://global.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202512/17/WS69421b57a310d6866eb2f1a0.html
AI-powered globalization helps Chinese firms take root overseas
By RENA LI in Los Angeles | chinadaily.com.cn | Updated: 2025-12-17 10:54
When Shenzhen-based M-Star Packaging Company opened its overseas factory in Riverside,
California earlier this year, the move quickly proved its value. Within just three months, the
facility had received orders totaling more than 1,000 metric tons of logistics stretch film from
local customers, a rare early success for a Chinese manufacturer establishing production in the
United States.
This rapid market expansion was driven not just by competitive manufacturing, but also by
strategically leveraging AI to guide decisions before and after entering overseas markets.
"It is never easy to set up factories in the US," Zhang Xiaoming, chairman of the company, said at
a business forum hosted by the Chinese University Alumni Association Alliance of Southern
California on Sunday.
"But if overseas markets are selected accurately based on demand, policies and competition,
the likelihood of success increases significantly," he said.
Relying on local partners and AI-assisted research on regulations, cost structures and supply- chain conditions to assess the feasibility of its US investment, Zhang's company was able to
design localized operating strategies, including team building, management models and
supply-chain localization.
"These are replicable experiences that help companies move from mere survival to sustained
success overseas," Zhang said.
As Chinese enterprises face rising compliance requirements and geopolitical uncertainty, AI is
increasingly being used as a "risk radar" to help companies assess risks, avoid localization
pitfalls and make evidence-based decisions before committing capital abroad, according to Gu
Lingyun, founder and CEO of IceKredit, a high-tech company providing AI-driven business
services.
One of the biggest hurdles for China-based companies expanding overseas remains the time- consuming process of understanding new markets, particularly language, culture and
regulatory frameworks.
"Traditionally, enterprises needed days, weeks or even a month to become familiar with
overseas regulations, business models and market analysis," Gu told China Daily during the
forum. "Now, with AI technology, it can take just a few minutes or a few hours for legal teams to
reach a preliminary understanding."
The AI-driven business intelligence products are designed to rapidly analyze competitors,
market conditions and seasonal trends, providing decision-makers with actionable insights.
"This wide-range translator can help companies navigate new markets more effectively," Gu
said, noting that AI can also support customer acquisition and internal training, including
language and cultural translation.
According to Gu, more than 500 Chinese clients, mainly from financial institutions,
manufacturing, e-commerce and education, have expressed strong interest in entering the US
market by leveraging AI-driven agents to conduct tailored market and product analysis.
"These companies are looking for cost-effective strategies to tap into the large American
market," he said. "AI helps them make preliminary market-entry decisions with far lower trial- and-error costs."
At the same time, Gu stressed that technology alone cannot offset political realities. "Given the
challenging China-US relationship, mutual respect is essential," he said. "Without mutual
respect, there is no way forward for companies on either side." Beyond market research and
compliance, artificial intelligence is also reshaping global supply chains, a key challenge for
Chinese companies expanding overseas.
Wang Mingming, general manager of Thunder International Group, said AI is increasingly being
used to align China's manufacturing strengths with the regulatory and branding requirements of
the US market. "The real advantage of Chinese e-commerce lies not just in traffic, but in supply- chain organization and responsiveness," she said.
According to Wang, AI-driven tools now help Chinese suppliers redesign production, inventory
and fulfillment systems around US consumers and compliance standards, rather than a
traditional export-oriented model.
"Compliance is not a cost, but a barrier to entry," she said, adding that Chinese supply chains
that upgrade toward compliance, sustainability and localized collaboration are more likely to
become long-term partners.
Sophie Zhu, global director at Shopline US, said AI is also playing a growing role in localization,
enabling Chinese companies to provide multilingual customer support and tailor content to
local audiences more efficiently.
From a broader perspective, AI is also reshaping the foundations of global supply chains. Allen
Hao, an expert in AI and analytics program management for supply chains, said that in the AI
era, competitiveness will be defined by adaptability rather than size alone.
"The future of supply chains won't be about who is stronger, but about who can adapt faster to
the changes brought by AI," Hao said.
He cited findings from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's report The Iceberg Index:
Measuring Skills-centered Exposure in the AI Economy, which shows that AI is already capable
of handling more than 11.7 percent of the US labor market across finance, healthcare, human
resources and administrative roles, representing about $1.2 trillion in wage value.
"This reflects what AI can do today, not a future projection," Hao said. "The age of AI isn't
coming, it's already here beneath the surface."
As China's outward investment continues to evolve, artificial intelligence is emerging as a key
enabler of higher-quality globalization. According to data from the Ministry of Commerce,
China's non-financial outbound direct investment has remained at over $140 billion in recent
years, with a growing number of enterprises shifting from traditional trade toward localized
production and operations overseas.
Article 2
https://www.ussc.edu.au/intelligent-everything-china-s-policy-to-supercharge-ai-adoption
“Intelligent everything”: China’s policy to supercharge AI adoption
Tim Coughlan
USYD United States Studies Centre
12 January 2026
What are China’s ambitions for global AI Governance?
Introduction
In August 2025, China’s State Council issued “AI Plus,” a policy directive aimed at guiding
sector-wide adoption of Artificial Intelligence (AI) domestically in China. This builds on the
momentum from July 2025, when China hosted its annual World Artificial Intelligence
Conference (WAIC) in Shanghai and launched the “Global AI Governance Action Plan.” These
developments reflect the continuation of a broader strategic roadmap initially outlined in
China’s 2017 New Generation Artificial Intelligence Development Plan, which set out Beijing’s
ambition to become a global AI leader by 2030. Together, these recent policy announcements
give insights into how China is approaching AI governance and diffusion across its economy,
and what signals they send to both domestic and international stakeholders.
What is “AI Plus”?
China’s “AI Plus” plan (here it is in Mandarin) is a call to action aimed at accelerating the
application of AI across all areas of the Chinese economy, industry and society. It serves as an
AI adoption roadmap that combines national goals of boosting consumption, industrial
upgrading, scientific innovation, social welfare, workforce reskilling, global cooperation
frameworks and more. China’s rhetoric frames AI as a public good and a core engine for
economic growth. As such, the plan represents a whole-of-nation approach to mobilise
resources towards AI.
China’s “AI Plus” plan is a call to action aimed at accelerating the application of AI across all
areas of the Chinese economy, industry and society.
Overall, AI Plus is a ten-year plan to ensure that by 2035, China will have comprehensively
created an AI-integrated economy and society that supports China’s development goal of
‘socialist modernisation’ — that is, the pursuit of technological and economic development
while maintaining China’s socialist governance model.
How successful have other long term plans that Beijing has announced?
China has a decent, albeit imperfect, record of bringing 10-year economic and industrial plans
to successful fruition. At times, gains from industrial policies are not uniform, with varying
degrees of success seen across sectors. An example of this is the Made in China 2025 plan, a
strategic industrial policy launched in 2015 to promote high-tech industries and high-value- added sectors of the economy. The Made in China 2025 plan has been largely successful in
reducing China’s reliance on foreign technology and supply chains and propelling China to
global leadership, particularly in industries such as advanced rail transit equipment, electric
vehicles and renewable power generation. While its performance was more mixed in areas like
aviation and integrated circuits, the plan still drove substantial expansion of China’s
manufacturing capabilities and growth in domestic and global market share. Without the
disruptions of election cycles or changes of government, China can set long-term policies and
direct significant political support and targeted investments towards their implementation.
What does the “AI Plus” plan call for?
In the short term, China is seeking to ensure that AI-powered “intelligent terminals” and AI
agents are integrated across key sectors, pushing to achieve a penetration rate of 70% by 2027.
There is no guidance on how ‘AI penetration’ will be measured, but the tight timeline provides
impetus for institutions across China to rapidly implement AI initiatives now. Many areas of the
Chinese economy have already embarked on digitisation and AI-related initiatives.
This includes deploying AI to optimise production processes for manufacturing, enhance
medical diagnostics and patient care and improve renewable energy management. Combined
with an advanced manufacturing base, these efforts place China in a strong position to
accelerate AI integration across its key industries.
How will China navigate access to the chips necessary for AI?
Access to the most advanced semiconductors that train and run AI is a key vulnerability for
China. The gap is most pronounced in cutting-edge chip manufacturing, where China’s
domestic industry is still developing. The United States has progressively tightened controls on
the export of advanced semiconductors to China, although second-rate chips can still be sold
under strict licensing arrangements. China wants to have domestic semiconductor supply
chains and capabilities that are independent of the United States and its allies. This means
investing in domestic tech companies to rapidly catch up on top-tier semiconductor
manufacturing, currently dominated by Taiwan, and chip design, currently dominated by the
United States.
As part of its effort to reduce reliance on foreign supply chains, the Chinese Government
recently directed its largest domestic AI firms, including ByteDance and Alibaba, not to
purchase Nvidia chips due to alleged security and remote access concerns. Meanwhile, Huawei
is ramping up its high-end chip manufacturing, and multiple Chinese tech firms, such as
Alibaba and Xiaomi, are also embarking on their own chip development.
What are China’s ambitions for global AI Governance?
The Chinese Government’s Global AI Governance Action Plan refers to a strategic framework
that outlines a vision for the development and regulation of AI globally. Released in July 2025 at
the World AI Intelligence Conference — a multilateral event in Shanghai supported by the
United Nations (UN) — the stated goals of the Global AI Governance Action Plan include
advancing global AI development for the good of humanity, driving economic and technological
growth and respecting national sovereignty. Moreover, the Action Plan emphasises the
importance of a coordinated global approach to ethical AI and proposes 13 actions aimed at
promoting the development and application of safe and controllable AI.
In Chinese Premier Li Qiang’s opening address at the World AI Conference, he called on the
international community to place greater emphasis on the joint governance of AI. Li also stated
that China would help to ensure that the benefits of AI are captured by all countries, including
the Global South, and proposed the establishment of a new international “World Artificial
Intelligence Cooperation Organisation” (WAICO) to coordinate the development of AI and
support the UN’s role as an integral channel for AI governance.
By promoting multilateral AI governance and aligning with the UN’s agenda, China may be trying
to diffuse opposition to its global AI ambitions.
These initiatives aim to position China as a global leader on AI governance and the AI partner of
choice, particularly vis-à-vis the United States. For many countries not allied with the United
States, China is already a dominant supplier of technology services, digital infrastructure and
equipment. China can take advantage of these existing technology partnerships to export its AI
products and deepen AI cooperation. Previous large-scale projects, such as the Belt and Road
Initiative, raised alarm about China’s use of economic carrots to win global influence. By
promoting multilateral AI governance and aligning with the UN’s Pact for the Future and
Sustainable Development agenda, China may be trying to diffuse opposition to its global AI
ambitions, particularly in the face of continued claims by the United States that Chinese AI
technologies are insecure and undemocratic.
Li Qiang also warned about the risks of AI becoming the “exclusive game” of a few countries or
companies — implicitly referencing the United States and US companies like OpenAI,
Microsoft, Google and others that are creating proprietary AI models.Source: Getty
Li Qiang also warned about the risks of AI becoming the “exclusive game” of a few countries or
companies — implicitly referencing the United States and US companies like OpenAI,
Microsoft, Google and others that are creating proprietary AI models. By contrast, Li presented
China’s vision for global cooperation on AI that emphasises equitable access, shared benefits,
and opposition to monopolies or restrictions,in line with China’s promotion of open-source AI.
What are the implications for Australia and the Indo-Pacific?
As China forges ahead with its implementation of AI, the Australian Government’s stance on
China of “cooperate where we can, disagree where we must and engage in the national interest”
will be applicable on topics relating to AI and other technologies. There are notable areas of
focus in China’s AI Plus plan that may eventuate in technologies and outcomes that Australia
can learn from and utilise. In the Australian Financial Review in July 2025, Chinese Ambassador
to Australia Xiao Qian stated that China was open to “actively explor[ing] new growth areas in
emerging fields like artificial intelligence, healthcare, green energy, and the digital economy.” In
areas like agriculture, aged care, child digital safety and energy, it would serve Australia well to
monitor China’s development and identify areas where cooperation is feasible.
One specific area of China’s AI Plus plan that is also a core national interest for Australia is the
topic of energy and the environment. While AI requires vast amounts of energy for training and
processing AI models, it also has the potential to offer beneficial scientific and technological
breakthroughs for the clean energy transition. These include accelerating advances in
renewable energy technologies, optimising electricity grids and improving the speed and
accuracy of climate modelling. Australia is already in dialogue with China on issues of steel
decarbonisation. Australia may find ‘AI for climate and energy’ a non-contentious and
productive topic to engage on with China.
China is a leading manufacturer of AI-related hardware technology and offers competitive cost
options for these products and equipment globally. Australia will face a balancing act on what
Chinese hardware tech it is willing to adopt and permit in the country. For hardware related to
critical infrastructure, such as telecommunication networks and onshore data centres, the
choice for Australia will need to be American or solutions from other trusted partners. In the
context of sensitive defence and dual-use technologies in particular, security partners like the
United States will expect Australia to avoid Chinese products and vendors. The US AI Action
Plan already outlines an export control strategy on sensitive technologies designed to promote
the adoption of a secure, US-aligned technology stack among allies and prevent their
dependence on “foreign adversary technology.”
Across other products such as electric vehicles, drones, robotics, and other consumer and
industrial devices, defining the boundaries for Chinese hardware tech adoption and
interoperability in Australia will be less clear-cut. In software and applications related to AI,
including social media like TikTok and large language models like DeepSeek, trade-offs will need
to be made between security, cost and availability.
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