Three Seas Project (3SI) and the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) : the security dimension

Abstract

Purpose: The article uses the new AI geopolitics paradigm to analyze the Three Seas Initiative (3SI) in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) initiative implemented by the PRC. The 3SI area is facing rising pressure resulting from the systemic rivalry between the PRC and the US and the field of the most advanced technologies. Design/Methodology/Approach: The authors adopt the neorealist approach, which focuses on the analysis of structural shifts in the distribution of material power among China and the US and their influence on states' behaviors. The article focuses on the consequences of changing the classical geopolitical paradigm to the artificial intelligence geopolitics paradigm because it is believed that it will play a vital role in the process of changing the international system, including transformations in the 3SI area. Findings: the US-China systemic rivalry increasingly focuses on the area of Artificial Intelligence and related technologies. As part of the security paradox, it implies structural tensions in the international system and a dynamic transformation of its space towards shaping a new geopolitical spatial paradigm that permanently integrates it with artificial intelligence technology. Practical implications: Given the dynamics of the processes that redefine the nature of the international rivalry and state sovereignty, it becomes imperative that 3SI countries develop a new, accurate strategic response to the danger of transforming the 3SI area as chronically unstable by transforming it into an area of tough competition between the US and the PRC. Originality/Value: The analysis provides a concise assessment of the dynamics of changing the nature of the geopolitical and technological rivalry between the US and China, as seen from the perspective of 3SI, and giving it a new character as a result of the emergence of a new artificial intelligence paradigm, and an insight into how this process may affect regional initiatives and frameworks.