China's AI pursuit driven by strategic necessity, says Singapore Foreign Minister

Singaporean Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan has characterized China’s pursuit of artificial intelligence as a strategic necessity to avoid repeating historical mistakes. Speaking at an Asia Society event with former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, Balakrishnan noted that China’s drive for AI dominance is motivated by a desire to avoid the industrial and technological disadvantages that led to a century of humiliation.

Balakrishnan argued that the current US-China technological rivalry differs from the Cold War-era Sputnik competition because modern superpowers operate within a shared global technological stack rather than isolated ecosystems. He suggested that China views this era as its “time in the sunshine” and seeks a level playing field and access to technology.

In a separate analysis of the geopolitical landscape, observers have questioned the common comparison of the AI race to the nuclear arms race. While figures like Sam Altman and Elon Musk have drawn parallels to the Manhattan Project or nuclear risks, critics argue the analogy is flawed. Unlike nuclear weapons, which function as discrete, binary tools of deterrence, AI is viewed as a continuum that can be deployed in varying degrees of severity, ranging from small-scale continuous attacks to high-level total use.