China’s digital influence on Peru’s technology operations demonstrates sophisticated gray zone statecraft through open-source platforms and infrastructure investments. On 02 June 2025, Small Wars Journal published analysis showing how China leverages technologies like DeepSeek AI and projects such as the $3.5 billion Chancay port to shape Peru’s technological ecosystem while undermining its digital sovereignty. The strategy combines economic incentives, infrastructure development, and digital tools to operate below the threshold of conflict while eroding national autonom.
The article begins:
This article examines how China leverages open-source technologies and digital infrastructure as instruments of statecraft in Peru, advancing strategic influence through gray zone operations without conventional force projection. Through the global deployment of AI platforms like DeepSeek and large-scale local projects such as the Chancay port, China is shaping Peru’s technological ecosystem while undermining its digital sovereignty. DeepSeek AI’s widespread app launch on January 10, 2025, turned the global artificial intelligence (AI) market on its head, especially given its ability to compete with Western-developed AIs like OpenAI for a fraction of the cost and energy. DeepSeek’s launch and subsequent popularity highlight how Chinese innovators have leveraged open-source technologies, while also enabling the spread of Chinese biases on a global scale. Two months prior, on November 14, 2024, President Xi Jinping and Peruvian President Dina Boluarte inaugurated the $3.5 billion Chancay deepwater port complex, the latest project in China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
Key Points
- China uses cost-effective open-source technologies like DeepSeek AI to embed Chinese political biases globally, asserting Taiwan belongs to China while offering competitive alternatives to Western platforms.
- Physical infrastructure projects, such as Port Chancay, create technological dependencies through AI management systems and telecommunications integration, mirroring Chinese influence strategies in Sri Lanka and Uganda.
- Open-source platforms enable China to reduce its Western dependencies while simultaneously projecting its worldviews, with government support dating back to the 1990s through initiatives like the domestic GitHub alternative, Gitee AI.
- Strategic partnerships between Chinese state enterprises and local subsidiaries create layered influence networks, as seen with ZTE-Bitel telecommunications cooperation and Viettel Peru’s digital currency pilot program.
China & Digital, Influence: Open-Source AI, Infrastructure, and Global Information Operations
China’s digital influence operations are increasingly sophisticated, blending the deployment of open-source technologies like DeepSeek AI, infused with political messaging such as the claim that Taiwan belongs to China, with expansive infrastructure projects that embed Chinese standards worldwide. Through initiatives like the Digital Silk Road, Beijing leverages cost-effective AI and domestic platforms such as Gitee to reduce Western dependencies and project Chinese worldviews, a strategy supported by state policy since the 1990s.
Physical infrastructure, including the AI-managed Port of Chancay, and partnerships between Chinese firms and local telecoms, as seen in ZTE-Bitel and Viettel Peru, create technological dependencies that mirror tactics used in Sri Lanka and Uganda. The United Front Work Department orchestrates influence campaigns targeting diaspora communities and foreign institutions, while Chinese state media and covert social media operations exploit global platforms to amplify pro-Beijing narratives and undermine democratic cohesion.
These efforts are complemented by economic coercion, as Beijing combines trade leverage with information warfare to shape foreign policy and public opinion, filling gaps left by Western retreat and converging with Russian disinformation tactics. External research confirms that China’s export of AI governance models and digital infrastructure is reshaping international technology standards, deepening global dependencies, and intensifying the contest over digital sovereignty.
External References:
The Global Influence Operations Report (GIOR) employs AI throughout the posting process, including generating summaries of news items, the introduction, key points, and often the “context” section. We recommend verifying all information before use. Additionally, images are AI-generated and intended solely for illustrative purposes. While they represent the events or individuals discussed, they should not be interpreted as real-world photography.
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