Asia-Pacific

Shifting from evidence-based law enforcement to heavy-handed digital regulation could stifle the innovation Korea needs and lead to various unintended consequences. As the Korean proverb goes, it’s unwise to “burn down the hut to catch a bedbug.”

Korea thankfully lags behind the West in its techlash “thinking,” but it is by no means free from this corrosive force. Both the West and Korea need a more positive and balanced perspective that doesn’t make technology the source of today’s societal ills.

Taking a cue from the EU does not make sense for Japan, because Brussels’ regulations were adopted in large measure as a response to the bloc’s failure to produce any leading digital companies of its own. Japan, by contrast, is home to many of the world’s top technology companies.

Rather than allow India’s dynamic high-tech and startup ecosystem to continue to flourish, the Draft Digital Competition Bill follows the path of overbearing competition policy taken by the EU, which lacks any leading digital firms. India should instead privilege the U.S. model of markets and dynamism.

Stephen Ezell presents on the state of global geoeconomic competition and avenues for United States-Japan economic security collaboration for the Japan Foundation.

Nigel Cory joined an expert panel at the 2024 Pacific Technology Policy Conference to discuss Indo-Pacific technology and innovation cooperation. Hosted by the National Bureau of Asian Research (NBR), the conference marked the release of a special report that Cory helped author for NBR—U.S.-ROK Tech Cooperation: Export Controls, Data Policy, and Artificial Intelligence.

Rob Atkinson spoke about comparing and contrasting national innovation systems at an event hosted by the CHEY Institute.

India has the potential to play a much more significant role in global semiconductor value chains, provided the government upholds its investment policies, maintains a conducive regulatory and business environment, and avoids measures that create unpredictability.

With the Platform Competition Promotion Act, Korea should ensure its continuous development as an innovation leader by rejecting the EU model and instead following the light-touch path of the United States, as Robert Atkinson writes for The Korea Times.

As the global calls for antitrust reform continue to multiply, a sober look at the United States’ experience calls for a healthy skepticism in response to the hysteria in some corners about a systemic failure of merger enforcement.