Technology’s geopolitical dimension is rapidly transforming the global economy—shaping economic narratives, building alliances, ushering in supply-chain wars, influencing innovation and research worldwide, and even affecting the way ordinary people live.

In this series of interviews on “Technology Geopolitics,” Vision Times interviews technology experts and geopolitical analysts to bring readers diverse perspectives on the forces shaping today’s technology-driven geoeconomics.

This is the second interview in the series. It focuses on Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s remarks on the “weaponisation of technology and critical minerals” and Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s proposal for an open-source AI community at the BRICS summit. 

These proposals came days before Xi’s upcoming meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington, D.C., on September 24, and can be viewed as messages relevant to the broader U.S.-China technology competition. Modi’s remarks highlighted concerns over the strategic use of technology and critical minerals, while Xi’s proposal called for greater cooperation among BRICS countries on open-source artificial intelligence, including the development and application of large language models.

The significance of these messages is heightened by the upcoming Trump-Xi bilateral summit, with artificial intelligence and advanced technology expected to feature prominently in discussions between the two leaders.

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However, despite the potential for cooperation in artificial intelligence, according to Reuters, intense competition between Beijing and Washington over the technology is likely to limit the bilateral to “symbolic agreements.”

To understand the significance of these messages emerging from the BRICS summit about two weeks ahead of the Xi-Trump meeting, I spoke with Dr. Sameer Patil, an Indian strategic-affairs and national-security researcher who is currently Director of the Centre for Security, Strategy and Technology (CSST) at the Observer Research Foundation (ORF). He also serves on the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Cybersecurity and the RUSI UK Global Partnership for Responsible Cyber Behaviour Advisory Board.

Venus Upadhayaya: What message is emerging from the 2026 BRICS Summit in New Delhi about the “weaponisation of technology and critical minerals”? （Modi had said, “The weaponization of technology and critical minerals can hinder our shared progress. Therefore, we have emphasised inclusivity in the adoption of technology.”)

Dr. Sameer Patil: When Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi made that statement, he was making a veiled reference to China, which controls more than 90% of global rare-earth magnet processing capacity and has imposed export controls on certain rare-earth materials and magnets since April 2025.

This is a problem of weaponised interdependence from the perspective of a state that is vulnerable to such dependencies, but the message is being framed more broadly for the benefit of other actors. By placing the issue within the larger framework of concerns shared by the Global South, India has signalled that it may be looking beyond BRICS to address this challenge.

Venus Upadhayaya: Xi proposed an open-source AI community at the BRICS summit. Xi said, “China will be a pioneer in establishing a BRICS AI open source community, support cooperation in developing and applying large language models, hold specialized AI seminars and training courses, and build an open ecosystem for AI.” What are your comments on this?

Dr. Sameer Patil: In my view, this is the Chinese agenda and priority, and it will go ahead with or without BRICS. China is determined to create a parallel AI ecosystem and has already launched the World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organisation in July, which, according to Chinese statements, has been joined by 29 countries.

I don’t see India becoming part of it, since the New Delhi Declaration from the India AI Impact Summit has 91 signatories and a much more clearly defined agenda.

(Editorial note: The New Delhi Declaration on AI Impact emerged from the India AI Impact Summit 2026. It was initially announced with 88 endorsers on February 21 and rose to 91 after Bangladesh, Costa Rica, and Guatemala joined. A later Indian government update lists 92 countries and international organisations, according to a release by the Indian Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.)

Venus Upadhayaya: What message does Xi’s “AI community” send to the United States ahead of the upcoming Xi-Trump bilateral meeting on Sept. 24?

Dr. Sameer Patil: I see it as the same message—to persist with the effort to create a parallel AI ecosystem that will rival the West.

Venus Upadhayaya: How will the emerging technology competition affect the respective footprints of China and the United States in the Global South?

Dr. Sameer Patil: The Digital Silk Road has brought Huawei, Alibaba Cloud, ZTE, and Chinese state financing to roughly 80 countries over the past decade, helping build telecom networks, data centres, and smart-city platforms. The release of DeepSeek’s V4, which has been optimised for inference on Huawei Ascend processors, also tells us that China is showcasing cheaper models running on cheaper chips—an alluring prospect for the Global South.

On the other hand, the United States is competing with full-stack packages covering hardware, storage, models, security, and applications. So, the most likely outcome is that most countries will have access to American frontier AI at the top for a narrow set of high-value uses, while Chinese connectivity, data centres, and open-weight models operate underneath for applications at scale.

However, one thing we often overlook is that the Global South also has agency. These countries will seek accountability layer by layer without deepening their dependence on either American or Chinese technology.

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Venus Upadhayaya: Xi also talked about setting up a science and technology talent-development initiative. He said, “China proposes to set up a BRICS engineer cultivation alliance for joint development of engineers and mutual recognition of competency standards. China will launch a BRICS youth exchange program for scientific and technological innovation, so as to cultivate more high-caliber talent.”

Do you think this initiative will receive support from countries such as India? And how do you expect the United States to respond to it?

Dr. Sameer Patil: Just like the call for an open-source AI community, this initiative is aimed at the Global South rather than the founding members of BRICS. Given the talent gap that exists between the Global South and the Global North, I think this initiative will receive support from some interested parties.

Original article