Asian countries ‘must work together on digital policy’

Governments across Asia are developing “a patchwork” of inconsistent laws and regulations to deal with digital challenges such as cybercrime, taxation and services, an Australian National University editorial has said.

The editorial board of the ANU’s online current affairs magazine East Asia Forum argues that the region’s governments will need to cooperate in developing laws to stop global technology giants from blocking competing services. The board’s members include Shiro Armstrong, director of the ANU’s Australia-Japan research centre, and economist Peter Drysdale, the magazine’s editor-in-chief.

“This patchwork threatens to choke off the very benefits of digital integration at a time when economies are desperate to kickstart lacklustre productivity growth and weak innovation,” the editorial says.