High digital stakes in new deal

The particular danger with the digital alignment between China and the ASEAN countries is that the rules governing cross-border data movement come to be as confusing and restrictive as Beijing's. For Beijing, data-protection legislation such as the Data Security Law, the Cybersecurity Law and the Personal Information Protection Law enshrine control over access to data implemented through localisation requirements. These requirements, strengthened in 2021 and again in June 2023, prevent foreign-based companies operating in China from sending Chinese client data or product test information to their head offices for analysis. In the World Trade Organisation's 2021 Trade Policy Review of…