[author]LIN Xi

[content]

Lin Xi

Abstract: China is emerging as a major global force in the field of artificial intelligence (AI), with the strategic goal of becoming a leading global AI innovation hub by 2030. In recent years, China has made a series of achievements in the fields of artificial intelligence technology research and commercial application. The main reason why China has achieved so many and such rapid breakthroughs in the field of artificial intelligence is that under the centralized and unified leadership of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, the central government and local governments have formulated and implemented a series of industrial policies with distinct Chinese characteristics.From the perspective of regional co-opetition theory, we can gain a more nuanced understanding of this distinct trajectory of policy formulation and implementation. In accordance with the overarching strategic framework devised by the central government and subsequent coordination of planning at the local level, local governments engage in both a competitive and cooperative dynamic in the implementation of AI industrial policies. This phenomenon can be characterized as a 'co-opetition' dynamic. A thorough analysis and interpretation of the formulation and implementation of China's AI industrial policies, and a summary of the unique experiences of technological progress, can offer valuable insights for 'Global South' countries.
Key words: Artificial intelligence industry policy; Top-level design; Regional Co-opetition; South-south cooperation

Quotation

At present, the global artificial intelligence industry has entered an unprecedented stage of rapid expansion, and artificial intelligence is expected to profoundly change human society and life. Against this backdrop of transformation, China has shifted from a follower in the field of artificial intelligence to a global leader, demonstrating remarkable technological progress and a huge industrial scale. This extraordinary achievement urgently requires a rigorous academic review by the academic community, especially an in-depth analysis of the unique policy-making and implementation mechanism behind it. The development path of China's artificial intelligence industry presents a unique governance paradigm, which involves a complex interactive logic of dynamic coupling between central strategic coordination and local practices. This policy and governance practice need to be deeply analyzed from an academic perspective. We should not only explore the productivity transformation triggered by technological diffusion that lies behind it, but also pay attention to how the central government and local governments, under the centralized and unified leadership of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, can carry out governance innovation in our country's governance system Create a governance mechanism that ADAPTS to the competition-collaboration relationship of local actors. This article attempts to analyze and interpret this phenomenon from the perspective of regional co-opetition theory.

1. Achievements Made by China in the Field of Artificial Intelligence Industry

China's development in the field of artificial intelligence is characterized by remarkable technological progress and strong industrial growth. At present, the scale of China's core artificial intelligence industry has exceeded 500 billion yuan. It is expected that by 2035, the scale will reach 1.73 trillion yuan, accounting for 30.6% of the global total. The compound annual growth rate (CAGR) over the next ten years is expected to exceed 10%. The most notable example of China's significant progress in the field of artificial intelligence is in the development of open inference models, such as DeepSeek R1. Its performance level can rival that of globally leading alternatives like ChatGPT, while the cost is only a fraction of it and the resource consumption is also lower. Over the past decade, the number of academic papers published in the field of artificial intelligence in our country has soared. In 2024, China published 273,900 articles in the field of artificial intelligence, accounting for 28.7% of the global total. In fact, in 2022, the number of papers published by China in the field of artificial intelligence had already surpassed the combined total of the European Union and the United States. In addition, China also holds a dominant position in the field of applied innovation. In 2022, China's patents related to artificial intelligence accounted for 61.1% of the global total, far exceeding the 20.9% of the United States. This rapid development is attributed to our country's unique advantages. China has a huge consumer base and market scale, and complementing this is also its vast human capital. As the home of the world's largest higher education system, more than half of the university graduates in our country focus on the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). This ensures a stable supply of technical talents needed for the vigorous development of artificial intelligence. In addition, the huge domestic market provides a vast space for the testing of artificial intelligence applications, enabling Chinese artificial intelligence enterprises to develop and optimize models at an unprecedented speed and scale, thereby achieving cost-effective solutions. This has defined China's innovation model as "scale-driven innovation", where massive data and rapid iteration cycles have become the core competitive advantages.

China's strategic goal of becoming a major global center for artificial intelligence innovation by 2030 has been clearly expressed in a series of key policy frameworks, such as the "Next Generation Artificial Intelligence Development Plan" (2017) and the "Three-Year Action Plan for Promoting the Development of the New Generation Artificial Intelligence Industry (2018-2020)". These strategic documents emphasize the significance of independent control of artificial intelligence, the construction of innovation centers, and the deep integration of artificial intelligence technology in various economic fields. For instance, the "Next Generation Artificial Intelligence Development Plan" has put forward a three-stage strategy to make China a global leader in the theory, technology and application of artificial intelligence by 2030. This strong emphasis on self-reliance and controllability is not only an economic goal but also closely related to geopolitical competition. The lag of our country in semiconductor design and advanced computing technology, as well as the external pressure encountered in international competition, have forced our country to adopt an independent development strategy to ensure national technological security and economic interests, such as in the semiconductor industry. This strategy aims to mobilize domestic resources and talents, cultivate local innovation capabilities, and thereby build a more resilient artificial intelligence ecosystem to withstand external shocks and reduce technological vulnerability.

The rapid breakthroughs made by China's artificial intelligence industry in recent years are inseparable from the proactive efforts of the central and local governments. First of all, under the centralized and unified leadership of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, the central government formulates the overall economic and policy direction and conducts "top-level design". This top-level design plays a role in promoting the rapid development of artificial intelligence by formulating the overall economic and policy directions. The central government has also issued detailed guidelines to guide the integrated application of artificial intelligence in various industries and strengthen standardization construction to ensure the synergy and high quality of the development trajectory of artificial intelligence.

Local governments are the key executors of these national strategies and they will release their own plans for the development of artificial intelligence. Local governments interpret the top-level design of the central government on the development of artificial intelligence as new key performance indicators, put forward their own development goals for artificial intelligence, and mobilize a large amount of resources. Among them, cities such as Shanghai, Beijing and Shenzhen have stood out, actively building artificial intelligence industrial parks, creating innovation hubs and attracting leading enterprises. This strategic shift marks the evolution of the development model of China's artificial intelligence industry towards a more pragmatic and adaptable direction. The government guides private enterprises to align with national strategic goals and effectively integrates them into the national industrial policy system through a combination of incentive measures, including tax incentives, public data access rights, and the recognition of "specialized, refined, distinctive and innovative" enterprises.

Therefore, the development of artificial intelligence in our country is not a single top-down process, but rather the result of a complex interaction between the central top-level design and the diverse initiatives of local authorities. This internal multi-level policy framework challenges the simplistic and simplistic understanding of China's artificial intelligence strategy. In our country, especially at the local level, a framework that can simultaneously capture the two dynamics of competition and cooperation is needed. This is the concept of "co-opetition", which describes the situation where competing entities pursue common goals while maintaining competitive interests in other fields.

2. Regional Co-opetition Theory and Incentive Mechanism

To fully analyze the complex dynamics of China's artificial intelligence industry policies, it is necessary to apply a theoretical framework that can capture the coexistence of competitive and cooperative behaviors among multiple actors. The following intends to analyze the unique path for the development of China's artificial intelligence industry by focusing on the "competitive cooperation theory" proposed by Brandon Berger and Nellebaf and the performance assessment and incentive mechanism proposed by Zhou Li 'an.

2.1 The theory of co-opetition

"Co-opetition" is a combination of "Cooperation" and "Competition", describing a strategic approach where enterprises or individuals simultaneously engage in both cooperative and competitive behaviors. This concept challenges the traditional zero-sum game view, which holds that the gain of one party necessarily implies the loss of the other. On the contrary, the theory of co-opetition holds that by strategically combining competition and cooperation strategies, long-term profits and value creation can be achieved, thus forming a "positive-sum game" that benefits both sides. Adam M. Brandenburger and Barry J. Barry J. Nalebuff provided a rigorous theoretical basis for this concept in his classic 1996 work "Co-opetition", mainly drawing on mathematical game theory. They believe that the "game" in business is not like chess or poker, where the rules are fixed and the outcome is determined by one side defeating the other. On the contrary, in business, participants can freely change the rules, themselves, the boundaries of the game, and even the basic scope of the game. This flexibility makes dynamic interaction possible, thereby creating new value for all participants. Their framework is often summarized as an abbreviation for PARTS (participants, added value, rules, tactics, scope), emphasizing the understanding of the business environment by grasping the inherent rules of the business environment, understanding all participants and their unique values, comprehending tactical methods, and being able to perceive the broader context or "big picture". The key point is that fundamentally changing the rules of the game or altering other players' perception of the game can profoundly influence the balance of power and reshape player behavior. The advantages of adopting a cooperative competition strategy are multi-faceted, especially in a dynamic and technology-intensive environment. It can enhance innovation capabilities by integrating diverse knowledge and resources, as competing enterprises may possess complementary skills and technologies. After joining forces, they can develop new products or services that cannot be achieved by one party alone.

The concept of "changing the game rules" proposed by Brandon Berger and Nellebaf is particularly prominent in the context of the implementation of state-led industrial policies, such as the development of the artificial intelligence industry in our country. In this model, under the centralized and unified leadership of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, the central government plays the role of both a "rule-maker" and a "rule-changer". By releasing comprehensive strategic plans such as the "New Generation Artificial Intelligence Development Plan" and setting new performance assessment indicators for local governments. This top-down rule-making approach has transformed the competitive environment, encouraging local governments to participate in specific types of competition and cooperation, thereby coordinating "competitive and cooperative" behaviors that are consistent with national strategic goals.

2.2 Regional Co-opetition under the incentive mechanism of the central government

To understand the roles of the "rule-maker" and "rule-changer" played by the central government mentioned above, we also need to refer to the performance assessment and incentive mechanisms observed by Zhou Li 'an in his analysis of local governments. This perspective is a key concept for understanding the government's incentive mechanism, local governance and the unique trajectory of economic growth in our country. This theoretical framework places the performance assessment of individual government department managers and their career promotion incentives at the core of the analysis, which is different from other research perspectives that mainly focus on inter-governmental competition or fiscal motivation. In China's administrative system, the promotion competition among local government managers unfolds through a multi-level and gradual elimination process. In the evaluation system for the promotion of local government managers, a series of quantifiable economic indicators such as the growth rate of the gross domestic product (GDP), the growth of fiscal revenue, and the scale of foreign investment attraction have become the main basis for assessing the performance of local government managers and determining their career development paths. When career promotion is linked to economic performance, it has multiple significant incentive effects. By linking promotion to regional economic growth, local governments can be encouraged to optimize management processes, enhance service efficiency, improve infrastructure and business environment to attract foreign investment, thereby effectively transforming potential bottlenecks in government development into driving forces for growth.

In this incentive mechanism, the performance assessment and promotion paths for local government managers may need to be carried out on two legs, operating simultaneously in accordance with the logic of "political participants" and "economic participants". This is the dual-track model proposed by Zhou Li 'an. He believes that China's market economy is driven by the close interaction and high integration of promotion incentives and market competition, and this two-tier market structure is unique. It should be noted that this incentive mechanism that takes into account both political achievements and the market can well explain why, in the current situation where the assessment of speed indicators such as GDP has been weakened, local governments still have a strong motivation to attract long-term investment projects that may not generate additional tax revenue in the short term. This is mainly because if a local government can adapt to the new development concepts and upgrade the industrial structure within its jurisdiction to an industrial system that meets the requirements of high-quality economic development under the new situation, it can also reflect the governance capacity and governance effectiveness of that local government. Moreover, as a notable feature of China's cadre management system, the cadre exchange system has played a crucial role in alleviating the negative impacts of this zero-sum competition. This mechanism cultivates a more meticulous and sometimes more cooperative way of thinking within the framework of competition by prompting local government managers to consider the long-term impact of their actions on career prospects. Meanwhile, this model can also explain the phenomenon of "group competition and cooperation" among regions. In recent years, China has initiated a highly integrated process of economy and policy within several economic circles centered on major cities, such as the Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta and the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. Local governments within these economic circles will cooperate and coordinate policies, and engage in "competition and cooperation" with other economic circles in a "grouping" manner.

3. Regional Co-opetition in the Artificial Intelligence Industry under the "Top-level Design"

The framework of the theory of co-opetition and the incentive mechanism provides a useful perspective for analyzing the complex dynamics of the formulation and implementation of policies for China's artificial intelligence industry. This article applies these frameworks to analyze the role of the central government, the competitive behavior among local governments, and emerging cooperation models, and ultimately distills the unique experience of China's artificial intelligence development.

3.1 The central government has made "top-level design" and overall arrangements for the development of artificial intelligence

Under the centralized and unified leadership of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, the central government plays a key role in coordinating the development of artificial intelligence across the country through top-level design and strategic guidance. This role is not limited to providing advice; it also involves formulating the overall strategic direction, establishing a performance indicator system, and allocating resources to guide the entire system towards a leading position in national artificial intelligence. The "Next Generation Artificial Intelligence Development Plan" serves as the cornerstone of this strategic blueprint. The plan clearly emphasizes the significance of achieving independent control of artificial intelligence and establishing innovation centers across the country. The central government has transformed these grand national goals into quantifiable performance indicators, set specific targets for local governments, and guided them from a strategic perspective to form "industrial clusters", promoting the "agglomeration effect" of artificial intelligence in different regions. This is the "top-level design" and overall arrangement made by the central government at the macro level. For instance, the 14th Five-Year Plan has clearly defined the annual R&D expenditure targets and listed artificial intelligence as one of the seven priority breakthrough frontier fields, clarifying the key investment directions for local governments. Documents such as the "Guiding Opinions on Accelerating Scene Innovation to Promote High-Quality Economic Development through High-level Application of Artificial Intelligence" (2022) further emphasize the integrated application of artificial intelligence in various fields to promote sustainable economic growth and provide extensive authorization for local innovative measures. In addition to setting goals, under the centralized and unified leadership of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, the central government actively participates in formulating adaptive regulations and governance frameworks that take into account innovation, security and ethics. Relevant documents include "Governance Principles for the New Generation of Artificial Intelligence - Developing Responsible Artificial Intelligence" (2019), "Ethical Norms for the New Generation of Artificial Intelligence" (2021), and "Measures for the Review of Science and Technology Ethics (Trial)" (2023). More specific regulations target algorithmic recommendation and deepfakes, such as the "Administrative Provisions on Deep Synthesis of Internet Information Services" (2022) and the "Artificial Intelligence Security Governance Framework" (2024), the latter of which provides risk classification and security guidelines. These regulations, while ensuring the responsible development of artificial intelligence, also define the boundaries and acceptable methods in the AI competition, guiding the behavior of local governments and industries.

Furthermore, under the centralized and unified leadership of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, the central government directly influences resource allocation and establishes national-level platforms to support the development of artificial intelligence. Leading private enterprises have the opportunity to receive support from national and local governments, and gain priority access to regional projects and relevant public data resources. The "National Open Innovation Platform for New Generation Artificial Intelligence" launched in 2019 is a typical representative of such measures. This platform relies on leading enterprises to promote the deep integration of artificial intelligence and the real economy, and encourages them to undertake key tasks in research and development, ecosystem participation, data sharing, and support for small and medium-sized enterprises. This centralized guidance and resource allocation mechanism has fundamentally changed the competitive landscape among local governments, encouraging them to adopt specific "competitive and cooperative" behaviors. Under the centralized and unified leadership of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, the central government formulates macro-level strategies for the development of the artificial intelligence industry from the perspective of "top-level design". When local governments carry out specific practices around this strategy, the central government can also play a role in overall arrangement and coordination, promoting the formation of synergy and agglomeration effects among different regions. The central government will coordinate at an appropriate time to ensure that the competition among local governments remains within a healthy range, and at the same time, carry out mutual cooperation and sharing of governance experience. This is particularly important in curbing and avoiding "involution competition", as it can help improve the assessment system for high-quality local economic development and the performance evaluation system for local governments, thereby guiding local governments to establish a reasonable and correct concept of performance.

3.2 Local governments at all levels should promote the formation of regional artificial intelligence industrial clusters

Local governments at all levels have thoroughly implemented the decisions and plans regarding the development of artificial intelligence. Under the strategic guidance of the top-level design of the central government, local governments across the country have set a series of plans and measures for the development of artificial intelligence. For instance, the "Implementation Plan for Promoting the Innovative Development of Artificial Intelligence in Liaoning Province" released by Liaoning Province proposes that by 2027, the core industry scale of artificial intelligence in Liaoning Province should reach 100 billion yuan, and related large-scale enterprises, industry leading enterprises and artificial intelligence integrated development industrial clusters should be cultivated. The "Several Measures on Supporting the Innovative Development of Artificial Intelligence" recently released by Zhejiang Province sets the goal that by 2027, the operating income of the core artificial intelligence industry above designated size in Zhejiang Province will exceed 1 trillion yuan, and by 2030, this figure is expected to reach 1.2 trillion yuan. China's most advanced economic centers, such as Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou and Shenzhen, are also actively competing to become leading cities in the development of artificial intelligence. According to statistics, the annual output value of the artificial intelligence industry in Zhejiang Province will exceed 570 billion yuan in 2024, among which the contribution of Hangzhou enterprises to the total profit will account for more than 70%. On June 4, 2025, the Hangzhou Municipal People's Government issued the "Implementation Plan for Accelerating the Construction of an Artificial Intelligence Innovation High Ground in Hangzhou (2025 Edition)", putting forward 20 specific policies to support the development of the entire artificial intelligence industry chain. The "Action Plan for Accelerating the Construction of a Pioneer City of Artificial Intelligence in Shenzhen (2025-2026)" released by Shenzhen proposes that by 2026, the number of artificial intelligence enterprises in Shenzhen can exceed 3,000, with more than 10 unicorn enterprises, and the average annual growth rate of the industry scale can exceed 20%. Moreover, Shenzhen is also preparing to launch more than 10 innovation incubators for artificial intelligence and embodied intelligent robots with obvious industrial agglomeration effects. The "Implementation Plan for Artificial Intelligence 'Molding Shanghai'" released by Shanghai in December 2024 aims to exceed 100EFLOPS of the city's intelligent computing power by the end of 2025 and form around 50 industry open corpus demonstration application achievements with significant results. At the same time, 3 to 5 large model innovation acceleration incubators should also be built. The artificial intelligence development plans of these cities usually implement the specific policies to various government departments, designate specific government departments to be responsible for implementing the corresponding policies, and incorporate the specific policies and goals of artificial intelligence development into the performance assessment system of government department managers.
Local governments across our country also spare no effort in attracting talents. All regions have introduced generous incentive measures based on their own development conditions to attract top scientific and technological talents, including both domestic and overseas ones. These incentive measures include monthly allowances, housing subsidies, medical benefits and support for children's education. For instance, in Suzhou City, the maximum project funding for top talents in the field of artificial intelligence is 100 million yuan, and the maximum housing subsidy can reach 10 million yuan. At the end of May 2025, Yangzhou City released the "10 Measures of Yangzhou City to Support the Development of Talents in the Field of Artificial Intelligence", setting up a special project for artificial intelligence in terms of talent introduction and providing top talent teams with a comprehensive subsidy of up to 100 million yuan. Meanwhile, Yangzhou City also plans to provide subsidies of up to 10 million yuan and 5 million yuan respectively to innovation and entrepreneurship teams and leading talents within three years. This battle for talent is not only taking place among cities but also among different districts and counties within the same city. This has had a positive impact on urban innovation, with a significant increase in the number of invention patents in various regions, especially in coastal cities with a better business environment.
Local governments are also actively building artificial intelligence industrial parks and clusters as a key strategy to attract artificial intelligence enterprises and cultivate innovation hubs. Shanghai is building artificial intelligence industrial parks in many places. Zhangjiang Science City plans to create three industrial highlands in integrated circuits, biomedicine and artificial intelligence. Minhang District has formulated the construction task of the "Greater Zero Bay" science and technology innovation source function zone. Hefei, the capital of Anhui Province, is home to "China Valley of Sound", an industrial base focusing on artificial intelligence. It is the first AI industrial base in China named after "China", a key cooperation project jointly built by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the Anhui Provincial Government. It has cultivated leading enterprises such as iFLYTEK and Zhongke Brain-like. These measures are often driven by local governments' desire to enhance their regional status and take the lead in the national artificial intelligence landscape. In addition, local governments are supporting artificial intelligence computing capabilities by providing substantial subsidies, regarding it as a key bottleneck in the development of artificial intelligence. Cities like Shanghai and Shenzhen are investing in building high-performance computing centers and offering financial incentives ranging from direct subsidies to discounted cloud computing packages to popularize computing resources and support AI startups and research institutions. This support system not only benefits emerging enterprises but also encourages multinational companies to set up artificial intelligence businesses in China, which is conducive to subsidizing the ecosystem.
The "collective cooperation" among local governments has achieved remarkable results. In China's artificial intelligence industry policies, cooperation among local governments is also a notable phenomenon, often manifested as "collective cooperation". This strategy involves major economic circles such as the Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao region and the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. They jointly enhance their competitiveness in the national artificial intelligence competition by accelerating internal economic integration. The Yangtze River Delta region, including Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Anhui, is a typical case of artificial intelligence clusters and cooperation in such areas. These provinces and municipalities directly under the Central Government have demonstrated a distinct leading edge in the field of artificial intelligence in the Yangtze River Delta region. The regional integration of the Yangtze River Delta has been elevated to a national strategy, promoting the unified implementation of market access policies, the unification of market law enforcement standards, and the improvement of interoperability among financial institutions. The collaborative innovation relationship in the field of artificial intelligence in the Yangtze River Delta region has been observed through patent cooperation data, indicating that the network of shared R&D efforts is expanding. As a municipality directly under the Central Government, Shanghai is actually the "leader" of the region. Its neighboring provinces, Jiangsu and Zhejiang, are actively implementing the "connection with Shanghai" strategy to take advantage of their economic and technological strengths. This strategic synergy, although there is still internal competition between Jiangsu Province and Zhejiang Province, can enhance the overall status of the entire region in the national artificial intelligence landscape. Meanwhile, many emerging artificial intelligence industrial clusters are taking shape, often driven by specific industry focuses. For instance, China has established 17 biomedical clusters in cities such as Beijing, Chengdu, Shanghai and Suzhou, aiming to promote biomedical research through the collaborative layout of artificial intelligence and biotechnology researchers. These clusters aim to accelerate innovation in strategic emerging industries by integrating different stages of the development cycle and stimulating interdisciplinary research. The cooperation mechanisms within these regional artificial intelligence clusters include joint research platforms, talent sharing programs, and efforts to overcome data fragmentation. Under the centralized and unified leadership of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, the central government and local governments are promoting the establishment of a common data warehouse and open-source artificial intelligence technology to enhance data interoperability and accessibility, which is crucial for training large-scale artificial intelligence models. China is also preparing to establish an international cooperation platform for artificial intelligence capacity building, and through various forms of exchanges, share best practices and build an open-source artificial intelligence community, especially in cooperation with developing countries. Universities and research institutions play a crucial role in these collaborative efforts, often collaborating with leading artificial intelligence companies to jointly develop AI-oriented courses, internship programs, and talent cultivation channels. These collaborations aim to ensure that graduates possess the technical expertise needed to drive our country's artificial intelligence ambitions and facilitate knowledge transfer within the ecosystem.

The coordination of the central government is crucial in promoting such cooperation, especially in areas where the zero-sum nature of local games may lead to the failure of coordination. Although inter-provincial competition may have promoted rapid growth in the past, it has had limited effect on fostering cutting-edge innovations that require collaboration. Although sometimes it is difficult, higher-level administrative coordination is crucial for promoting cross-regional cooperation, especially in areas such as environmental protection. The central government will implement a "one-vote veto" system to ensure that local governments comply with national goals. In the field of artificial intelligence industry development, the central government will guide local governments to make relevant layouts in the artificial intelligence industry based on their local industrial foundations and regional advantages, forming differentiated competition and complementary advantages. For instance, the development path of artificial intelligence in Shanghai and the Yangtze River Delta region mainly focuses on commercial applications, with a particular emphasis on the integration of the industrial chain. Beijing, on the other hand, relies on technological resources and focuses on achieving more breakthroughs in technology. Shenzhen, relying on the industrial clusters of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, is focusing on the integration of the upstream and downstream supply chains of the embodied intelligent industry.

3.3 The "Chinese Model" for the Formulation and Implementation of Artificial Intelligence Industry Policies

When we analyze the implementation of China's artificial intelligence industry policies from the perspective of regional co-opetition theory under the "top-level design" of the central government, we can discover a unique "Chinese model". This model is characterized by state-led strategic planning, decentralized implementation, and strategic cooperation and competition among local governments. Unlike the purely market-driven models in some countries (where innovation is mainly determined by private enterprises and market forces) or the centrally planned model (where the state leads all economic activities), the "China model" has become a powerful and complex engine for technological progress within a strong framework of central guidance and incentives, leveraging the vitality of decentralized competition. This unique model holds significant implications for the countries in the Global South, especially challenging the traditional pattern where they relied on the countries in the Global North for technology and knowledge transfer. Historically, developing countries have often been in a technology-dependent position, relying on developed economies to provide key technologies and knowledge. This may exacerbate unequal power dynamics and hinder local innovation. However, China's development path offers another possibility. Its strategy of emphasizing the development of local artificial intelligence models (such as the low-cost and open-source DeepSeek-R1) provides feasible solutions suitable for diverse application scenarios for developing countries. This approach directly addresses the financial and infrastructure constraints often faced by countries in the Global South, providing them with a more accessible entry point to participate in the artificial intelligence revolution.

The key mechanism for the global dissemination of the "China Model" and its artificial intelligence capabilities is the "Digital Silk Road", which is the digital component of the "Belt and Road Initiative". Under the framework of the "Digital Silk Road" construction, China has assisted developing countries in establishing localized artificial intelligence standard systems and practical paths through the transfer of artificial intelligence technologies and the sharing of governance experiences, promoting the formation of a diverse and symbiotic global digital ecosystem and injecting digital impetus into the building of a new type of international relations. This includes the development and deployment of the Internet, satellites, optical fibers, submarine cables and 5G technology, expanding our country's digital footprint and inviting partner countries to join its digital ecosystem. In addition to infrastructure, China actively participates in the capacity building and knowledge sharing of artificial intelligence carried out in cooperation with countries in the Global South. The "Inclusive Plan for Artificial Intelligence Capacity Building" proposed by our country clearly focuses on enhancing artificial intelligence literacy, strengthening talent training and sharing best practices with developing countries. This initiative aims to narrow the gap between artificial intelligence and digital technology, ensuring that countries in the Global South can share the fruits of artificial intelligence development fairly. China is willing to establish an international cooperation platform for the capacity building of artificial intelligence. China's artificial intelligence industry and industrial alliances will jointly build an open and inclusive artificial intelligence community through various forms of exchanges. The Chinese government also plans to hold short-term and medium-term artificial intelligence capacity-building projects for developing countries, share relevant artificial intelligence educational resources, and jointly carry out artificial intelligence education and exchange programs to cultivate high-quality artificial intelligence professionals. This strategy, which focuses on practical applications and customizes artificial intelligence solutions based on the specific industry needs of developing countries, such as poverty reduction, healthcare, agriculture and industrial manufacturing, offers concrete and scalable benefits, in sharp contrast to the abstract technology transfer. This approach has promoted new mutually beneficial cooperative relations among developing countries, enabling them to enhance their technological capabilities while avoiding reliance on the global North for technology and knowledge transfer. China emphasizes independent innovation, cost-effectiveness and South-South cooperation, challenging the traditional north-south reliance model in the development of artificial intelligence and providing developing countries with a fairer and more accessible development path.

Conclusion

The rapid rise of China in the field of artificial intelligence is a phenomenon of profound global significance, and behind it lies a complex and unique industrial policy framework. This article holds that the "Chinese model" can be better understood by drawing on the "coin-competition" theory of Brandon Berger and Nellebaf. The analysis in this article reveals that the formulation and implementation process of China's artificial intelligence industry policies is neither a single top-down instruction system nor a purely market-driven evolution model. On the contrary, it is a dynamic multi-level system. Under the centralized and unified leadership of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, the central government has guided and coordinated various local governments to form a unique regional co-opetition model. The central government has formulated national artificial intelligence development goals of strategic significance. This top-level design, to a certain extent, encourages local governments to engage in healthy competition, introduce artificial intelligence talents from multiple aspects and channels, increase investment and carry out the construction of industrial parks. Meanwhile, this top-level design has also promoted strategic cooperation among local governments and encouraged the formation of regional artificial intelligence industrial clusters. These local alliances that "huddle together for warmth" aim to enhance overall competitiveness and compete with other local alliances on a broader national scale, demonstrating the subtle interaction between competition and cooperation.

Therefore, the development model of artificial intelligence in our country presents a unique hybrid model, that is, local governments effectively utilize decentralized competition and market mechanisms to promote technological progress. This model challenges the traditional economic development theory and provides a unique path for technological catch-up and innovation. For the countries in the Global South, this model holds significant theoretical and practical significance. It provides an alternative to the traditional north-south dependence for the development of artificial intelligence by emphasizing local artificial intelligence models, cost-effective and scalable solutions, and conducting comprehensive capacity building through mechanisms such as the "Digital Silk Road". This is expected to usher in a new stage of win-win cooperation, enabling developing countries to participate in the artificial intelligence revolution with greater autonomy. However, this also highlights the urgency for recipient countries to formulate proactive policies to ensure genuine technology transfer and cultivate their own "artificial intelligence sovereignty", thereby reducing the risk of falling into reliance on new technologies. Therefore, the development model of artificial intelligence in our country, as a case, can help us understand the complex relationship between economic policies and the trajectory of technological development in the 21st century.

The original text was published in the 7th issue of "Administrative Management Reform" in 2025. Thanks to the wechat official account "Administrative Management Reform" for authorizing the reprinting.