Cognitive Research in Political Studies

Cognitive Research in Political Studies

Exploring the place of Artificial Intelligence in the new US-China Cold War in the 21st century

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
Morteza Esmaeili 1
Siroos Bonyadi 2
Baran Negahdari 3
1 Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran
2 Ph D Candidate in Political Science, Department of Political Science, Faculty of Law and Political Science, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran.
3 BA Student in Political Science, Law and Political Sciences Department, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran
10.20241403/CRPS.2512.1104.2.9.5
Abstract
Over the past few decades, China’s economic, military, scientific, and technological development has elevated it to one of the world’s major powers alongside the United States. Although, in the early stages of its development under Deng Xiaoping’s leadership, China adopted the slogan of “hiding one’s capabilities and biding one’s time,” focusing on domestic economic growth, attracting foreign investment, and avoiding global conflicts to prevent drawing the attention of Western powers—thus deferring “China’s global leadership to future generations”—today, after two generations, Xi Jinping’s leadership, coinciding with transformations in the technological arena, including artificial intelligence and cyberspace, along with his ambitions to realize the “Chinese Dream” and achieve global leadership, has raised numerous questions about China’s leadership and the future of its competition with the United States. Accordingly, the main questions of this research can be framed as follows: First, what capacities and potentials does China possess to challenge U.S. hegemony, or the so-called “American order”? Second, what impact does the emergence of artificial intelligence and cyberspace as a new technology have on the U.S.-China competition? Our hypothesis in this study, relying on a qualitative-analytical research method based on documentary studies, comparative analysis, and examination of credible sources, is that China has achieved significant accomplishments in various economic, military, technological, and scientific dimensions, enabling it to challenge U.S. hegemony. The ambiguous arena and China’s Achilles’ heel in this competition—namely, internal political challenges on one hand and the weaknesses of the liberal international order on the other—also, through cyberspace and artificial intelligence, allow China, contrary to the views of many analysts, to manage its domestic political space and challenge the liberal order by demonstrating its weaknesses. Even if it cannot establish a unipolar world under Chinese leadership, it can at least herald our entry into a bipolar world.
Keywords
Capacity
Challenge
Artificial Intelligence
Cold War
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Cognitive Research in Political Studies
Volume 3, Issue 2 - Serial Number 9
Summer Quarterly
Summer 2026
Pages 125-161

  • Receive Date 29 December 2025
  • Revise Date 08 August 2026
  • Accept Date 08 August 2026