Artificial intelligence and big data in the Maritime Silk Road Initiative: The road towards Sea Power 2.0

Abstract

China’s Belt and Road Initiative continues to attract considerable attention from scholars
and observers in diverse fields. However, students of the Belt and Road Initiative (‘the
Initiative’) have focused extensively on the land and sea dimensions of this grand project
while only tentatively touching on its other dimensions. This article draws attention to
the digital and maritime dimensions of the Initiative, which are respectively known as
the Digital Silk Road Initiative and the Maritime Silk Road Initiative. Specifically, the
article focuses on how artificial intelligence and big data, as promoted under the Digital
Silk Road Initiative, intersect with the Maritime Silk Road Initiative to produce what the
author refers to as Sea power 2.0. To contextualise this intersection, the article draws
on patent data to show how artificial intelligence and big data are adopted in supply
chains. The results from the patent analysis show that artificial intelligence and big
data will play a crucial role in future supply chains, and hence, the Maritime Silk Road
Initiative. Although the article focuses mostly on the commercial side of Sea power 2.0,
it concludes by pointing out how artificial intelligence and big data could serve military
objectives.