Tech Diplomacy News: growing digital futures and global partnerships
| News Roundup |
Global The G7 Industry, Digital, and Technology Ministers agreed on a broad agenda to boost economic growth and security through AI, quantum technologies, and more resilient digital supply chains after meeting under Canada’s presidency this month. The G7 emphasized a human-centric approach to AI, with new tools to help small and medium-sized enterprises adopt the technology responsibly while building trust through voluntary frameworks and international cooperation. A new UNDP report warns that unmanaged AI could widen development gaps between countries, ushering in a “new era of divergence” after decades of gradual convergence. While AI could significantly boost growth and productivity in Asia and the Pacific, uneven digital readiness, weak governance, and skills shortages risk leaving many countries behind and disproportionately harming women and young people. “AI is racing ahead, and many countries are still at the starting line,” said UNDP regional director Kanni Wignaraja, underscoring the need for inclusive policies to ensure AI drives shared progress rather than deeper inequality. AI is rapidly reshaping diplomacy and global affairs, forcing decision-makers to act faster while raising new risks around misinformation, equity, and governance, experts warned at the BRIDGE Summit in Abu Dhabi earlier this month. Panelists stressed that unverified data, design flaws in AI tools, and uneven access across regions could deepen global divides if left unchecked, Chad de Guzman reports for TIME. Read the November global roundup of tech policy updates from Tech Policy Press here. North America Warnings are mounting from U.S. Congress members that expanded wiretap powers meant for foreign intelligence are eroding safeguards and giving agencies like the FBI broad access to Americans’ communications without warrants. Lawmakers and privacy experts argue the program is drifting toward routine domestic surveillance, with one warning it risks becoming a “standing engine for domestic spying,” Dell Cameron reports for WIRED. Washington’s 2025 National Security Strategy reframes Africa as central to U.S. security not just for minerals and logistics, but for control over digital and infrastructural flows that underpin technological power, with infrastructure like submarine cables, data corridors, and standards-setting now treated as strategic terrain alongside supply chains for AI hardware, batteries, and semiconductors. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is rapidly merging data from across government agencies to power immigration enforcement, raising alarms about digital overreach and weak safeguards. President Trump has signed an executive order asserting federal control over AI regulation, aiming to block states from enforcing their own rules on AI companies. The order frames AI as a matter of interstate digital infrastructure and competitiveness, directing federal agencies to challenge state laws seen as restrictive or shaping AI outputs. Critics warn the move could create a regulatory vacuum as AI systems expand rapidly, leaving oversight to courts rather than coordinated digital governance. Canada announced a 92 million CAD public investment to accelerate fault-tolerant quantum computing, aiming to keep critical digital capabilities, talent, and production anchored domestically. The funding backs several Canadian quantum firms and introduces a national benchmarking platform to track technical progress, linking quantum development directly to cybersecurity, defence, and advanced digital infrastructure. The Trump administration has launched a new “U.S. Tech Force,” hiring around 1,000 engineers and specialists to work directly inside federal agencies on AI infrastructure, data modernization, and digital services. Scott Kupor, director of the Office of Personnel Management, said the goal is to ensure “the right talent on the right problems,” and the two-year program will be run in collaboration with major tech firms, including Amazon Web Services, Microsoft, Google, Nvidia, and OpenAI. Canada’s AI policymaking is being skewed toward industry voices while sidelining independent public-interest researchers, GoodBot CEO Renee Black writes for Tech Policy Press, warning “performative” consultations and industry-funded task forces risk repeating past policy failures and eroding public trust. Africa Africa’s rapid digital transformation risks leaving women and girls behind as online abuse and harassment spread alongside connectivity, warns UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina J. Mohammed. In her op-ed for Africa Renewal, she argues that technology-facilitated gender-based violence is not only a human rights crisis but a direct threat to inclusive development. While digital tools offer opportunities for education, jobs, and civic participation, Mohammed stresses that stronger laws, digital literacy, and survivor-led approaches are essential if Africa’s tech revolution is to deliver equality rather than deepen existing divides. Chinese AI companies are quietly relying on Kenyan students and recent graduates to label massive volumes of training data through opaque networks of middlemen, WhatsApp groups, and short-term gigs paying just a few dollars a day. Weak labor protections and soaring youth unemployment have made Kenya a hub for this hidden AI labor, prompting warnings of “digital colonialism” as workers remain disconnected from the companies they are effectively building for, Damilare Dosunmu and Tessie Waithira write for Rest of World. Airtel Africa is set to roll out Starlink’s direct-to-cell satellite service across all 14 of its marketsstarting in 2026, aiming to extend basic connectivity to areas without terrestrial mobile coverage. The partnership will initially support text messaging and limited data services, with plans to scale to higher-speed connections as next-generation satellites come online. In South Africa, affirmative action rules have been eased to allow Starlink and other foreign satellite internet providers to operate without mandatory local equity stakes, opting instead for “equity equivalent” investments like skills training. Officials argue the shift could accelerate broadband access in rural and underserved areas, while critics warn it risks weakening transformation requirements as satellite internet becomes central to national digital infrastructure. Africa’s digital and creative economies took center stage at Moonshot 2025 in Lagos, as policymakers and tech leaders outlined concrete steps to scale digital trade and cross-border innovation. The summit prompted calls for stronger IP protections, locally grounded tech solutions, and policy alignment to help African startups compete globally. Morocco says high- and medium-high-technology industries now generate more than 50% of its total industrial added value, marking a major shift toward digitally driven and advanced manufacturing. The milestone reflects heavy investment in technology integration, industrial zones, and innovation-friendly policies. Officials frame the achievement as evidence Morocco is positioning itself as a competitive hub for tech-enabled manufacturing and industrial digitalization in Africa and global value chains. Asia China has poured roughly 80 billion USD into overseas clean technology investments over the past year as firms look for new markets to absorb a domestic supply glut in solar panels, batteries, and other green tech. The surge has pushed China’s total overseas green tech investment above $180 billion since 2023, with many countries deepening cooperation in response to U.S. tariffs. “They need overseas markets to absorb their products,” said Climate Energy Finance’s Caroline Wang, as Chinese companies increasingly back large-scale projects across Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America, Colleen Howe reports for Reuters. Cheap and widely available AI tools reshaped campaigning in India’s Bihar state election, flooding voters with voice clones, synthetic videos, and hyperlocal messaging that was hard to verify. Political parties used tools like ChatGPT and voice generators to reach millions at low cost, while fact-checkers and regulators struggled to keep pace with the scale of AI-generated content. The Trump administration is moving to formalize an “economic security coalition” to challenge China’s grip on rare earths and key technologies with five allies, Singapore, Australia, Japan, South Korea, and Israel, through the Pax Silica Declaration. The initiative is meant to align policies on AI, advanced manufacturing, and supply chain chokepoints, with one official calling it “a game changer” for competing with China’s tech-driven model. The coalition is also positioned as a counterweight to Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative, according to Phelim Kine reports for Politico EU. Southeast Asia is emerging as a new center for offshore wind development as U.S. policy shifts under President Trump stalls projects and funding at home. Governments in the Philippines and Vietnam are using digital planning tools, updated permitting systems, and cross-border grid projects to attract global investment and integrate offshore wind into modern energy infrastructure, a shift highlighting how energy transitions increasingly depend on regulatory technology, data-driven planning, and regional connectivity rather than just physical turbines. Taiwan says it will keep its most advanced chipmaking and R&D at home to protect the integrity of its semiconductor ecosystem, even as firms expand manufacturing abroad, arguing that cutting-edge production depends on deeply embedded digital know-how, talent networks, and process integration that cannot be easily replicated elsewhere. Japan’s push toward Central Asia is increasingly driven by technology-linked economic security, from securing critical minerals for semiconductors, batteries, and clean energy to shaping digital logistics and customs systems along the Trans-Caspian Middle Corridor. Countries like Kazakhstan offer not just uranium and rare earths, but a platform for Japan to export high standards in infrastructure tech, digital governance, and grid modernization. For Japan, deeper engagement means treating Central Asia as part of its extended tech supply chain architecture, not just a resource base, as it seeks resilience against chokepoints and single-source dependencies, Alberto Frigerio writes for The Diplomat. Europe Europe faces growing risks as the U.S. and China shift from outright tech containment toward transactional bargaining that leaves European industries exposed, a new brief from the EU Institute for Security Studies warns. China’s weaponization of critical mineral exports in 2025 forced Washington to ease some tech restrictions, emboldening Beijing while raising the prospect that Europe could be squeezed by both sides. To respond, Europe must accelerate reindustrialization with partners, activate its anti-coercion instrument, and reduce asymmetric dependence on both the U.S. and China, brief author Joris Teer argues. The European Commission has proposed delaying full enforcement of the AI Act for high-risk systems until 2027, giving companies extra time to comply. Critics warn the delay could allow biased AI to influence decisions on loans, insurance, or jobs, highlighting growing tension in Europe between maintaining strict digital safeguards and staying competitive with global AI development. As the European Commission prepares its first fine under the Digital Services Act, major platforms’ 2025 risk reports show subtle but clear shifts in how they frame hate speech, misinformation, and DEI, often echoing the lighter-touch approach now favored in U.S. politics. Meta, Google/YouTube, and LinkedIn downplay or rename categories like misinformation and hate speech, stressing “free expression” and content-neutral enforcement, while TikTok stands out for largely maintaining stricter integrity and bias-mitigation measures. The reports suggest platforms are carefully balancing EU compliance with growing political pressure from Washington, a tension likely to shape future DSA enforcement debates. One year into its mandate, the European Commission is rolling back core digital rights protections by weakening enforcement of the AI Act, GDPR, and Digital Services Act, while expanding surveillance powers through security and migration policy. Rights groups warn this shift favors industry lobbying and law-enforcement access over safeguards like algorithmic transparency, encryption, and limits on spyware, effectively normalizing a surveillance-first digital model, Access Now Europe writes. The U.S. has paused parts of its tech cooperation with the U.K., stalling the two nations’ Tech Prosperity Deal over unresolved disputes on digital regulation and online taxes. According to reporting from Eshe Nelson and Ana Swanson at The New York Times, Washington is pressuring London to ease rules like the digital services tax that affect major U.S. tech firms, linking future AI and data-center collaboration to broader trade concessions, with tech partnerships increasingly used as leverage in transatlantic trade negotiations. The Netherlands is relinquishing state control of Nexperia after China eased chip export restrictions, easing fears of supply shocks for Europe’s auto and electronics sectors. The move, meant to be a pragmatic step to stabilize semiconductor supply chains at risk due to Beijing’s curbs, underscores governments’ struggles to balance security concerns against industrial dependence. Latin America Writing for Mexico Business News, author Roberto Esparza argues that Mexico is entering 2026 at a digital tipping point: increasing sophistication in AI adoption, over 100 million internet users, tech giants building AI labs, rising nearshoring-driven investment, and a focus on secure architectures, preventive cybersecurity, and strong AI governance rather than tool adoption alone show promise, but gaps in talent, infrastructure, and governance persist. In an interview with The Markup, Brazilian investigative journalist Natalia Viana says Latin America has become a testing ground for Big Tech’s global lobbying playbook, where companies aggressively shape regulation behind the scenes. Viana notes that firms like Google and Meta combine lobbying, media funding, and political influence to block or dilute laws on competition, misinformation, and children’s safety across the region and globally, warning that without coordinated regional and global responses, Latin American governments will continue to face “an imbalanced relationship” where tech giants extract profits while avoiding accountability. TikTok plans to invest more than 37 billion USD in its first large-scale Latin American data center, positioning the country as a regional hub for AI and cloud infrastructure. TikTok Brazil public policy head Monica Guise called it “a historic investment,” while President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said the project could become a model for Brazil’s tech-driven development. Mexico City’s upscale Nuevo Polanco neighborhood has been reshaped by a growing influx of Chinese tech companies and workers, turning it into a hub for Chinese restaurants, supermarkets, and services. Firms such as Huawei, TikTok, BYD, Xiaomi, and Shein have anchored offices there, alongside a sharp rise in Chinese residents, creating demand that fuels a parallel boom in Chinese food and retail, even as Mexico weighs tariffs and geopolitical risks tied to China’s expanding footprint in Latin America. Interest in AI-focused data centers in Chile is “real and growing rapidly,” even though no projects have broken ground yet. More than 4 billion USD is tied to over 30 data center initiatives, driven by Chile’s renewable energy strength and fiber connectivity, with power demand from data centers projected to quadruple by 2032. According to ABB executive Julius Forrer, Chile is “entering a new phase in terms of digital and energy infrastructure,” positioning it as a competitive AI hub in Latin America. Oceania Australia’s under-16 social media ban has become a live test of age-verification technology, algorithmic accountability, and platform design limits, with facial scans, ID checks, and payment data all being explored as compliance tools. Writing for Global Voices, Kevin Rennie highlights how critics argue the policy may push teens toward less-regulated platforms while forcing users to surrender more personal data to companies like Meta and X, raising privacy and misidentification risks. As Australia’s eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant put it, regulators are prepared to “play the long game,” underscoring that this is an ongoing experiment in digital governance rather than a settled model. After the tragic Bondi Beach shooting this weekend, false claims and AI-generated videos spread rapidly online, misidentifying both victims and bystanders. Fact-checkers debunked viral posts on X and TikTok, showing how synthetic footage, recycled images, and look-alike names amplified confusion during the crisis. An AI hackathon in Fiji hosted by the University of the South Pacific gave students hands-on exposure to industry-grade AI, focusing on aerospace-themed challenges, Python, machine learning, and teamwork under professional coaching. As organiser Nazia Taylor put it, the aim is to show “how AI works in the real world,” highlighting a growing push to build local tech capacity rather than pushing talent overseas. Google will build three subsea internet cables across Papua New Guinea, funded by Australia under the Pukpuk defense treaty, significantly upgrading the country’s digital backbone and linking its north and south with high-capacity connectivity. The project is designed to lower internet costs, attract hyperscalers, and improve resilience in a region where undersea cables are seen as critical digital infrastructure. PNG’s acting ICT minister Peter Tsiamalili said the investment reflects “both nations’ shared commitment to advance digital security, regional stability, and national development,” underscoring how submarine cables now sit at the intersection of technology, geopolitics, and defense, ABC/Reuters reports. New Zealand and South Korea have launched three joint quantum communication research projects aimed at making ultra-secure, long-distance quantum networks practical, focusing on quantum repeaters, chip-based light sources, and interfaces linking optical and microwave signals. The projects combine New Zealand’s photonics research strengths with South Korea’s engineering and manufacturing expertise to overcome key barriers to real-world deployment, with the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment’s Heather Penny stating it could enable “safer online banking, secure health data sharing and protection against cyber threats.” Pacific Island Countries are reaching a turning point in digital transformation, driven by submarine cables, satellite internet like Starlink, and growing political commitment, but constrained by donor dependence, talent flight, and fragile infrastructure. Based on closed-door discussions with officials from Fiji, Tuvalu, and the Solomon Islands, Shruti Mittal and Adarsh Ranjan write for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace that progress often equates to digitizing government services rather than building sustainable digital ecosystems, and projects are frequently shaped by donor timelines rather than local readiness. |
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