If the BRI created the debt trap, China’s latest initiative risks creating a far more consequential tech trap. China’s AI Diplomacy and the Emerging Tech TrapChina’s emerging AI diplomacy centers on a proposed World AI Cooperation Organization (WAICO), supported by AI application centers, open-source models, technical training, digital standards, and infrastructure assistance. Chinese models would run on Chinese infrastructure, built by Chinese firms, governed by Chinese standards, and increasingly embedded in foreign digital ecosystems. Indonesia, for example, traditionally seeks to remain nonaligned in U.S.-China technology competition, yet Jakarta quickly endorsed Beijing’s new AI initiative. If the Belt and Road Initiative created fears of debt dependence, AI Spark should become the United States’ answer to China’s emerging tech trap.