US and China try to shift the fracturing map

The flurry of diplomatic activity by both the US and China this week underscores that geopolitical alliances in parts of the emerging world are fluid. We suspect that most countries in Latin America and the Middle East will try to straddle the China-US divide as best as possible. But the Gulf countries’ determination to secure advanced US technologies to develop AI sectors will make this balancing act more difficult for them, and they may fall more firmly into the US’s orbit.