Tech Diplomacy Now: Trilateral Summit Opens a New Era of Cooperation Between Japan, the Republic of Korea, and the United States
Tech Diplomacy Now: Trilateral Summit Opens a New Era of Cooperation Between Japan, the Republic of Korea, and the United States
Last week, President Biden hosted South Korean President Yoon and Japanese Prime Minister Kishida at Camp David for the first, standalone, leaders’ summit between the three countries
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Top News of the Week
Announcements
Latest News
Technology Strategy and Policy
Artificial Intelligence
Telecommunications Networks and Infrastructure
Critical Minerals
Synthetic Biology
Quantum
Advanced Aerospace Technology
Semiconductors and Microelectronics
Energy and Climate
Opinion and Commentary
The Last Word
Top News of the Week – Trilateral Summit Opens a New Era of Cooperation Between Japan, the Republic of Korea, and the United States
After years of controversy over Americans investing in the military modernization of China, the Biden Administration issued an Executive Order directing the Treasury Secretary to analyze how restrictions could be put in place for a small number of advanced technologies. Debate over this action started in the Trump Administration and Biden officials have been examining whether to issue this restriction for nearly two years.
Last week, President Biden hosted South Korean President Yoon and Japanese Prime Minister Kishida at Camp David for the first, standalone, leaders’ summit between the three countries. After years of strained relations between Japan and the Republic of Korea, each leader set aside domestic political concerns to focus on how the three advanced democracies could work more closely on strategic threats.
An accelerating nuclear and ballistic missile program in North Korea, an aggressive China that appears closer than ever to invading its neighbor Taiwan, and an ongoing war by Russia in Ukraine has encouraged Seoul and Tokyo to tone down concern over historical grievances to focus on immediate and shared threats.
This has long been the desire of Washington and it appears that careful diplomacy over the past two years has brought about a breakthrough.
As the leaders finished their face-to-face meeting in the forests of Maryland, their staffs hammered out several agreements:
A commitment at the leader level to hold an annual trilateral summit, along with annual trilateral meetings for ministers of defense, commerce, foreign affairs, as well as national security advisors. In addition, the leaders pledged to consult with one another as soon as events threatened their collective security.
The three countries will begin an annual, multi-domain military exercise with additional intelligence sharing and cooperation on ballistic missile defense. The three countries would also cooperate on countering foreign disinformation, cyber activities, and collaborate on developing maritime capabilities in Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands.
In the economic, commercial, and scientific realms, the countries created a mechanism to coordinate infrastructure development and telecommunications across the region with their development finance organizations. They launched a “Supply Chain Early Warning System” to detect disruptions in critical minerals and other strategic supplies, as well as expand their efforts to protect critical technologies. They also strengthened cooperation between the national laboratories of the three countries and created a women’s empowerment initiative.
North Korea and the People’s Republic of China responded negatively to this summit as both countries, rightly concluded, that these efforts were directed against them. This week, Chinese leader Xi Jinping travels to South Africa to attend the BRICS Summit and he will try hard to convince his fellow leaders to both expand the BRICS grouping and turn it into a rival bloc to what the United States is assembling against Beijing.
It remains to be seen whether Xi will achieve either of these goals.
More background:
FACT SHEET: The Trilateral Leaders’ Summit at Camp David – White House, August 18, 2023
Camp David Principles – White House, August 18, 2023
The Spirit of Camp David: Joint Statement of Japan, the Republic of Korea, and the United States – White House, August 18, 2023
Advancing Indo-Pacific Economic Cooperation: DFC, JBIC, and Korea Eximbank Sign MOU to Collaborate on Infrastructure Investments – U.S. DFC, August 18, 2023
S.Korea, U.S., Japan Show United Front at Camp David – Chusun Ilbo, August 21, 2023
Japan-U.S.-South Korea security pact must bolster regional stability – Asahi Shimbun, August 21, 2023
Biden, Kishida, Yoon at historic Camp David summit – Reuters, August 18, 2023
Announcements
Jonathan Pelson, a member of the Krach Institute for Tech Diplomacy Advisory Council, provided The Diplomat with insights into how China (almost) came to dominate 5G.
Read the full column here: ‘Wireless Wars’: How China (Almost) Came to Dominate 5G
Strider Technologies has published a research paper describing how the PRC has advanced it’s semiconductor competitive advantage through foreign expertise.
“Dozens of PRC government documents published in recent years emphasize leveraging foreign intellectual property (IP) and talent to advance their domestic integrated circuit (IC) industry.”
Read the full study here: Europe in the Crosshairs: The PRC’s United Front Is Boosting Efforts to Target the Semiconductor Sector
Latest News
America’s Tech Giants Rush to Comply with New Curbs in Europe – WSJ, August 20, 2023
China helping to arm Russia with helicopters, drones and metals – Telegraph, August 19, 2023
Why is China so angry about the Taiwan vice president's US trip? – Reuters, August 19, 2023
A DuPont China Deal Reveals Cracks in U.S. National-Security Screening – WSJ, August 12, 2023
Technology Strategy and Policy
When Hackers Descended to Test A.I., They Found Flaws Aplenty – NYTs, August 16, 2023
German minister proposes tougher rules on Chinese foreign direct investment – Financial Times, August 20, 2023
Multinationals turn to generative AI to manage supply chains – Financial Times, August 13, 2023
U.S.-China Competition in Emerging Technologies: LiDAR – Congressional Research Service, August 14, 2023
Artificial Intelligence
U.S. and Chinese Military AI Purchases – CSET, August 2023
UK to host AI safety summit at start of November – FT, August 16, 2023
America’s Bridges, Factories and Highways Are in Dire Need of Repairs. Bring in the Robots. – WSJ, August 18, 2023
China, U.S. Test Intelligent-Drone Swarms in Race for Military AI Dominance – WSJ, August 19, 2023
Telecommunications Networks and Infrastructure
Huawei, Denmark and A $200 Million Battle Over 5G – Bloomberg, June 19, 2023
NYC bans TikTok on city-owned devices – The Verge, August 16, 2023
Critical Minerals
Australia, Canada, & US Unify Critical Minerals Data – Clean Technica, August 18, 2023
Tennessee Refinery Could Break Chinese Chokehold on Two Critical Minerals – VoA, August 15, 2023
U.S. Looks to Mongolia, Wedged between China and Russia, for Critical Minerals – Scientific American, July 31, 2023
Australia blocks acquisition of lithium mine by China-linked firm – Reuters, July 21, 2023
Synthetic Biology
Bridging AI & Biology: Absci and Caltech's HIV Solution Gains Gates Foundation Support – SynBioBeta, August 10, 2023
Chinese drugmakers develop copycat versions of ‘miracle’ weight-loss drug – FT, August 15, 2023
Preserving US Biopharma Leadership: Why Small, Research-Intensive Firms Matter in the US Innovation Ecosystem – ITIF, August 21, 2023
Quantum
Is China a Leader in Quantum Technologies? – CSIS, August 16, 2023
How to protect critical infrastructure in the quantum-computing era – Federal Times, August 21, 2023
Is quantum computing hype or almost here? – Big Think, August 17, 2023
Expanding Capacity in Quantum Information Science and Engineering (ExpandQISE) – NSF, August 2023
Advanced Aerospace Technology
Russia’s Luna-25 Spacecraft Crashes Into Moon – WSJ, August 20, 2023
Intelligence Agencies Warn Foreign Spies Are Targeting U.S. Space Companies – NYTs, August 18, 2023
China deploys swarm of satellites to monitor military exercises in Australia – ABC News, August 18, 2023
China, Lawfare, and the Contest for Control of Low Earth Orbit – The Diplomat, August 10, 2023
Semiconductors and Microelectronics
Why the White House Went to Wall Street to Revive the U.S. Chips Industry – WSJ, August 15, 2023
Intel ends deal to buy Tower Semiconductor after failure to gain Chinese regulatory approval – SCMP, August 16, 2023
Hikvision still sells Uyghur-tracking surveillance cameras, and they use NVIDIA chips – The China Project, August 17, 2023
Sunak to spend £100m of taxpayer cash on AI chips in global race for computer power – Telegraph, August 20, 2023
Why China remains hungry for AI chips despite US restrictions – Financial Times, August 21, 2023
Energy and Climate
How China Shifted Gears on Electric Vehicles—and Why It Matters – National Interest, August 14, 2023
China’s car companies are turning into tech companies – MIT Technology Review, August 16, 2023
Tesla supplier CATL unveils battery that can add up to 400km of range in 10 minutes – TechCrunch, August 16, 2023
Abandoned EVs Start to Pile Up in Cities Across China – Bloomberg, August 17, 2023
Opinion and Commentary
No One Should Want to See a Dictator Get Old – Michael Beckley, NYTs, August 15, 2023
The US-China decoupling story is not over – Rana Foroohar, Financial Times, August 14, 2023
Extend the Pentagon’s ban on China’s consumer drones – Mark Montgomery, Defense One, August 14, 2023
One Summit, Three Allies and a Very Important Message for China – NYTs, August 17, 2023
Germany must pull away from China before it’s too late, warns Berlin’s top economic adviser – Telegraph, August 19, 2023
The Last Word
“In order to respond to today’s unprecedented polycrisis, the ties between our three countries, which are the most advanced liberal democracies in the region and major economies leading advanced technology and scientific innovation, are more important than ever.
From this moment on, Camp David will be remembered as a historic place where the Republic of Korea, the United States, and Japan proclaimed that we will bolster the rules-based international order and play key roles to enhance regional security and prosperity based on our shared values of freedom, human rights, and rule of law.”
– South Korean President Yoon speaking at the Trilateral Summit at Camp David
“At the moment, the free and open international order, based on the rule of law, is in crisis. Due to Russia’s aggression of Ukraine, the international order is shaken from its foundation. The unilateral attempt to change the status quo by force in the East and South China Seas are continuing. And the nuclear and missile threat of North Korea is only becoming ever larger.
Under such circumstances, to make our trilateral strategic collaboration blossom and bloom is only logical and almost inevitable and is required in this era. The three of us here today declare our determination to pioneer the new era of Japan, U.S., ROK partnership.”
– Japanese Prime Minister Kishida speaking at the Trilateral Summit at Camp David
About: Tech Diplomacy Now
The Krach Institute for Tech Diplomacy at Purdue is the world’s preeminent trusted technology accelerator. As the leader of the new category of Tech Diplomacy, the Institute integrates technology expertise, Silicon Valley strategies, and foreign policy tools to build the Global Trusted Tech Network of governments, companies, organizations and individuals to accelerate the innovation and adoption of trusted technology and ensure technology advances freedom.