GUANGXI DRIVES AI-POWERED TRADE, INNOVATION WITH ASEAN

KUALA LUMPUR, June 4 (Bernama) -- In a vivid display of how artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping regional trade, Vietnamese truckers equipped with AI-powered tools recently navigated through the Friendship Pass in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China’s busiest land port with Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), streamlining their cross-border journey with real-time navigation and safety features.

Just a few kilometres away, Southeast Asian livestreamers at an e-commerce park were generating speech data for an AI language corpus, part of efforts to enhance machine translation across ASEAN languages.

As China and ASEAN strengthen economic ties, AI is playing an increasingly central role, transforming logistics, communications, and collaboration. At the Guangxi Pingxiang Comprehensive Bonded Area, smart AI cameras now handle cargo inspections—cutting manpower needs and boosting efficiency.

This trend is echoed across the region. In Nanning, a digital risk management hub monitors thousands of trucks and drivers, using facial recognition to detect fatigue and issuing real-time safety alerts.

Guangxi’s integration of AI does not stop at logistics. The region is actively developing AI tools tailored to ASEAN markets, including drones for air-ground inspections and digital certificate platforms for safer cross-border trade.

Guangxi Daring Technology Co Ltd has introduced an advanced AI translation model optimised for Southeast Asian languages like Vietnamese, offering high accuracy with reduced computational load.

In 2025, China ramped up efforts to build an AI-driven partnership with ASEAN, with these innovations forming part of a broader vision, according to a statement.

Notably, Guangxi and Laos launched the first China-Laos AI Innovation Cooperation Center, aiming to strengthen Laos’s technological base, while Guangxi partnered with Malaysia’s MYEG to roll out a China-Malaysia AI centre, including a digital ID system enabling seamless services and transactions for citizens of both nations.

Guangxi is also investing heavily in AI infrastructure. The Wuxiang Cloud Valley AI Industrial Park in Nanning focuses on computing power, algorithm research, and AI application in sectors like agriculture and consumer goods and aims to provide AI leasing services to ASEAN countries, fostering shared technological growth.

Looking to the future, Guangxi aspires to become the AI nerve centre for the ASEAN region. Projects like the China-ASEAN AI Innovation Cooperation Center in Nanning aim to attract global talent and foster AI adoption in industries ranging from education to tourism.

According to local officials, the region is targeting an AI industry output exceeding 100 billion Chinese yuan (about US$13.9 billion) by 2027, solidifying its position as a cornerstone of China-ASEAN technological collaboration. (US$1=RM4.23)

-- BERNAMA