Last week, a massive high-tech trade fair in central China buzzed with Russian officials and business leaders, yet the lone American presence was none other than Elon Musk’s voice, echoing through a Tesla video promoting humanoid robots. This grand event showcased hundreds of technological marvels, from boxing robots and toilet-cleaning automatons to emotional support robots for seniors, alongside self-driving yachts and automated police vans. Over 100 Chinese electric vehicle brands fiercely competed for dominance. A prominent feature at the fourth Global Digital Trade Expo in Hangzhou was Tesla’s Cybertruck, a futuristic vehicle currently restricted from sale in China. Despite other Tesla models being available, they face a steep decline in sales, outmatched by Chinese competitors offering superior technology and significantly lower prices, with only a few managing to turn a profit.
The sprawling exhibition, covering an area larger than 21 football fields, truly highlighted China’s remarkable transformation. Its manufacturing sector, once reliant on low-cost labor, has evolved into an economic powerhouse fueled by innovation and a growing command over advanced technologies, areas traditionally led by the United States. However, this impressive display also illuminated pressing concerns amidst escalating global trade tensions and fears in both developed and developing nations about a surge in Chinese exports. Key questions arose: Who will ultimately purchase these vast quantities of goods, and can the producing companies truly achieve profitability?
During the expo’s opening, high-ranking Chinese officials and Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Grigorenko advocated for increased global collaboration, subtly criticizing the Trump administration’s inconsistent attempts to restrict China’s access to advanced AI chips and impede its technological advancement. Wang Hao, the Communist Party chief of Zhejiang Province (where Hangzhou is located), proudly announced that the digital economy now contributes over 50% of the province’s total output, a significant shift from its traditional agrarian past known for tea and silkworms. He emphasized China’s desire to “collaborate with all parties to explore the new frontier of digital trade and foster mutually beneficial partnerships.” This vision of cooperation starkly contrasts with former President Trump’s perspective, who asserted in April that China had “ripped us off and left us for dead.”
A salesman promoting urinal-cleaning robots at the expo challenged this viewpoint, arguing that such innovations offer universal benefits. “Nobody likes cleaning toilets,” he remarked, questioning why Chinese robots shouldn’t handle such arduous tasks. His company, Hangzhou Star Species Robotics, has primarily served the domestic market, deploying robots to maintain hygiene in public facilities like Chinese railway stations. However, they aspire to expand their reach into international markets.
Without directly addressing the former president, organizers of the expo highlighted the failure of American isolation efforts, proudly stating that 11,000 international buyers attended – a 64% increase from the previous year, underscoring the event’s growing global influence. A Foreign Ministry-arranged tour for foreign journalists through high-tech companies in the Yangtze River Delta reiterated this message: despite the Trump administration’s attempts to curb China’s progress and any internal economic challenges, the nation’s AI, robotics, and digital sectors are advancing rapidly and autonomously.
“If you face obstacles, there’s always an alternative path,” stated Kong Fuan, Communist Party secretary at the Hongqiao Overseas Development Service Center in Shanghai. This government body actively seeks foreign investment and talent while aiding Chinese firms in their global expansion. In contrast to U.S. policies that complicate foreign worker recruitment, Mr. Kong emphasized China’s open-door approach, declaring, “We always open our hands to talent from all over the world.” To further this, China is implementing a new visa category specifically designed to facilitate travel and business opportunities for STEM graduates from leading global universities.
Hefei, once a modest city west of Shanghai, has blossomed into a high-tech center, largely exemplified by iFlyTek, an AI firm that defies Trump’s past restrictions. Since 2019, when the first Trump administration blacklisted iFlyTek (among 28 Chinese companies) over human rights concerns, the company has innovated extensively, demonstrating that U.S. sanctions, while blocking access to American products, failed to impede its progress. Its ambitions are physically manifested in a newly established, remarkably futuristic office campus.
Among its latest offerings are an AI-powered exam grading device and a multilingual chatbot, capable of responding to questions in languages like Chinese, English, and Russian, with answers displayed on a screen. When questioned about the Ukraine invasion, the chatbot cited Russian security concerns, but also mentioned President Vladimir Putin’s use of false propaganda and the war as a distraction from Russia’s economic stagnation. Cheng Chen, general manager of iFlyTek’s consumer business group specializing in AI translation, clarified that their exam grading machine aims to augment, not replace, teachers, freeing them to focus on more creative and essential educational tasks. She maintained that intermittent U.S. restrictions on advanced AI chip exports, despite American chips being “the best for training large language models,” have not harmed iFlyTek, as Chinese giant Huawei offers sufficient alternatives. With state-owned China Mobile as its primary shareholder, iFlyTek’s stock price has more than doubled since the imposition of Trump-era sanctions, demonstrating minimal impact from recent U.S.-China trade disputes on its market valuation. Last week’s news that China barred its major tech firms from purchasing advanced AI chips from American supplier Nvidia further underscored China’s determination to achieve technological self-sufficiency.
This drive for self-reliance has become a central tenet of Chinese state policy under President Xi Jinping, who frequently invokes the Mao-era phrase “zili gengsheng.” While Mao used it to advocate for a damaging economic isolation, Xi’s modern interpretation aims for technological independence. Xi’s vision is not about total isolation but about safeguarding national sovereignty by ensuring the Party’s control over foreign influences, particularly in high-tech innovation. He emphasized in an April Politburo meeting the need for an “autonomously controllable” AI hardware and software ecosystem.
Despite this nationalistic push, the widespread eagerness for international sales among tech companies at the expo reveals the practical limits of complete self-reliance. China’s accumulating trade surpluses, which comprised up to half of its economic growth last year, have been crucial in mitigating the impact of a prolonged property market downturn. While trade between China and the United States has significantly decreased under the Trump administration due to tariff uncertainties, China’s total trade surplus is still projected to surpass last year’s staggering nearly $1 trillion.
Yet, the question of whether China can truly thrive without cutting-edge American AI chips remains contentious. At the Hangzhou expo, Unitree Robotics marketing manager Chen Jiaxin enthusiastically presented their advancements in humanlike robots. However, she conspicuously evaded questions regarding the impact of U.S. chip export restrictions and broader trade tensions, stating simply, “It is not convenient to answer.” Intriguingly, DeepSeek’s booth at the Hangzhou digital expo was left unmanned, featuring only a logo on a poster. This unattended display hinted at a possible reluctance to address sensitive inquiries about a rumored delay in their new AI model’s summer release, potentially due to issues with Chinese-produced alternative chips.