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Plugged in, not locked in: middle powers navigate US-China AI rivalry

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Cite

Chen, A. (2026, November 8). Plugged in, not locked in: middle powers navigate US-China AI rivalry. South China Morning Post. https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3373682/plugged-not-locked-middle-powers-navigate-us-china-ai-rivalry

Dated from the outlet's own feed. Check the original for its byline.

South China Morning Post · collected 2026-11-08 · by Alyssa Chen

Quick Summary

At a forum in Shenzhen, countries from regions like Southeast Asia and the Middle East are choosing flexible partnerships with both the United States and China in artificial intelligence rather than aligning exclusively with one superpower. Dr. Reyes emphasized that these nations prefer to remain open to collaboration with multiple partners, avoiding restrictive ties with any single country.
Written by AI on 2026-11-10, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

At a recent forum in Shenzhen, middle powers from Southeast Asia and the Middle East are choosing flexible partnerships over closed alliances with either the US or China in the realm of artificial intelligence (AI). The event, co-hosted by the Shenzhen Loop Area Institute and the Centre on Contemporary China and the World (CCCW) at HKU, highlighted a preference for countries to engage broadly rather than align exclusively with one superpower. Dr. Reyes emphasized that middle powers seek to "plug in" rather than be "locked in," indicating a strategic approach to maintain independence while benefiting from technological advancements without committing fully to any single nation's AI ecosystem.

Written for “Middle Powers Navigate US-China AI Rivalry” on 2026-11-10, grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.
Why this leaning score
This article does not take a side on a contested political question, so it has no leaning score. That is an answer rather than a gap: a match report or a rescue can be warmly or critically written without being left or right, and scoring it anyway is how approval of a subject gets recorded as a political position.
No political leaning scored for article 136617 · logged 2026-11-10

Story

Middle Powers Navigate US-China AI Rivalry
Technology · 1 article(s) covering the same event.

Compared with similar articles

This article reads unscored and hedges 0% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
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Centre Hedges 1 of 2 claims Outlet record 62/100
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“The articles describe different events with distinct locations, dates, and hosts: Article A mentions a Family Business Summit in Hong Kong on November 5th, while Article B refers to a forum in Shenzhen co-hosted by the Shenzhen Loop Area Institute and HKU.”
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
1
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
0%
0 of 1 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
not political
takes no side on a contested political question
Publisher signals
62/100
South China Morning Post's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
1
Technology
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-11-10 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

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Publisher

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Who wrote this

Alyssa Chen
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Also by Alyssa Chen
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2026-11-08 · South China Morning Post
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Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 24 articles by Alyssa Chen →

Topics

CCCW China Shenzhen the Centre on Contemporary China and the World the Shenzhen Loop Area Institute

Subjects

CCCW ORG · 1× China GPE · 1× HKU ORG · 1× Reyes PERSON · 1× Shenzhen GPE · 1× the Centre on Contemporary China and the World ORG · 1× the Shenzhen Loop Area Institute ORG · 1×

Narrative

Plugged in, not locked in: middle powers navigate US-China AI rivalry From Southeast Asia to the Middle East, countries are opting for flexible partnerships over closed alliances with a single superpower “Countries in the middle do not want to be locked in; they want to plug in,” Reyes told a forum in Shenzhen co-hosted by the Shenzhen Loop Area Institute and the Centre on Contemporary China and the World (CCCW) at HKU.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-11-10
2026-11-10 · South China Morning Post
Plugged in, not locked in: middle powers navigate US-China AI rivalry · assertive framing

Claims (1 extracted, 0 hedged)

Plugged in, not locked in: middle powers navigate US-China AI rivalry From Southeast Asia to the Middle East, countries are opting for flexible partnerships over closed alliances with a single superpower “Countries in the middle do not want to be locked in; they want to plug in,” Reyes told a forum in Shenzhen co-hosted by the Shenzhen Loop Area Institute and the Centre on Contemporary China and the World (CCCW) at HKU. asserted
Reyes → plug → HKU
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