Japan and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations are planning to begin operations of a digital innovation center in Jakarta in late August. Reports say promoting the free flow of data is their latest cooperative front amid the Western economies’ push to decouple from China, which has in turn tightened controls on the transfer of cross-border data.
China approved the Data Security Law and the Personal Information Protection Law, which took effect in 2021, which allow the government to impose penalties on foreign companies for sharing unauthorized data generated in the country.
The center will try to circumvent the restriction by cooperating with startups and the business community in Southeast Asia to analyze different markets. It’ll also research technologies that enable encrypted data to be analyzed using machine learning capabilities.
Establishing the center is one of the ways the economies in the Asia-Pacific, caught in the crossfire of new geopolitical punitive tools, are minimizing the impact of high-tech restrictions set up by the world’s two biggest economies.
The U.S. is trying to cut China’s access to its data centers in the U.S. and abroad to collect sensitive data by regulating Chinese cloud providers. Meanwhile, China has been using its diplomatic and economic influence to try to persuade regions to stay politically neutral and not take part in U.S.’ de-risking approach.
Data show recent U.S. imposition of tough rules aimed at slowing China’s military modernization and surveillance could actually backfire, as it stifles tech cooperation and signals countries to take sides. According to the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, China outpaced Western democracies in research output, regarding artificial intelligence and robotics, deemed critical for economic growth and military power.