#46 Asia AI Policy Monitor
🇨🇳🇺🇸 U.S.–China AI dialogue | 🇸🇬 Singapore refreshes national AI strategy | 🇮🇳 India launches AIKosha | 🇦🇺 Australia targets AI abuse risks | 🇰🇷 South Korea clarifies AI copyright rules
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Multilateral and Cross-Border AI Governance
🇨🇳🇷🇺 China / Russia | State Council / Joint Statement | 20 May 2026 — China and Russia agreed to deepen cooperation in artificial intelligence and AI governance following the Xi–Putin summit.
“The two sides agreed to deepen cooperation in emerging fields including artificial intelligence, strengthen exchanges on AI governance, and promote the safe, reliable, and inclusive development of artificial intelligence technologies.”
Source: https://www.gov.cn/yaowen/liebiao/202605/content_7023456.htm
🇨🇳🇺🇸 China / United States | Ministry of Foreign Affairs | 19 May 2026 — China said President Trump and President Xi agreed to launch an intergovernmental AI dialogue.
“As two major AI countries, China and the United States should work together to promote AI development and governance, and enable AI to better serve the progress of human civilization and the common welfare of the international community.”
Source: https://www.mfa.gov.cn/fyrbt_673021/202605/t20260519_11913599.shtml
🇮🇳🇳🇱 India / Netherlands | Government of India / Government of the Netherlands | 16 May 2026 — India and the Netherlands elevated bilateral ties to a strategic partnership covering AI, semiconductors, quantum, cybersecurity, and resilient supply chains.
“The leaders emphasized strengthening cooperation in semiconductors, critical and emerging technologies, digital technologies, artificial intelligence, quantum, cybersecurity and resilient supply chains.”
Source: https://www.government.nl/documents/2026/05/16/joint-statement-by-india-and-the-netherlands
🇨🇳🇺🇸 China / United States | Ministry of Foreign Affairs | 15 May 2026 — China said it supports open, inclusive, beneficial, and good-oriented AI development following the U.S.–China leaders’ meeting.
“China has always advocated that all parties jointly promote the open, inclusive, beneficial and good-oriented development of artificial intelligence.”
Source: https://www.mfa.gov.cn/fyrbt_673021/202605/t20260515_11911293.shtml
🇨🇳🇺🇸 China / United States | Reuters / U.S. Treasury | 14 May 2026 — Reuters reported that U.S. and Chinese delegations discussed AI guardrails at the Beijing summit, including best practices to prevent non-state actors from exploiting powerful AI models.
“What we don’t want to do is stifle innovation.”
Source: Reuters
🇧🇪🇯🇵 Belgium / Japan | Japan Digital Agency | 4 May 2026 — Belgium and Japan signed a digital policy cooperation memorandum covering interoperability, government cloud, and AI in the public sector.
“The cooperation covers cross-border interoperability, government cloud, and AI in the public sector.”
Source: https://www.digital.go.jp/en/news/8f0b992d-7452-49a9-a82c-87cfa119cf1a
National AI Strategy and Public-Sector AI
🇸🇬 Singapore | Ministry of Digital Development and Information | 20 May 2026 — Singapore refreshed National AI Strategy 2.0 with 10 priorities covering sectoral adoption, government use, research, talent, compute, data governance, trusted AI, and international partnerships.
“The 10 refreshed priorities are: (1) boost sectoral transformation through national AI Missions while mainstreaming AI adoption across industry; (2) embed AI more deeply across Government; (3) build capabilities across the spectrum of AI research; (4) nurture AI bilingual talent while continuing to attract top-tier AI talent and cultivate AI practitioners; (5) entrench broad-based AI capabilities to support inclusive growth; (6) deepen ecosystem integration across Singapore’s AI community at home and abroad; (7) advance resource-efficient AI and enable sufficient access to compute in line with Singapore’s sustainability goals; (8) unlock datasets underpinned by strong data governance; (9) enable trusted AI adoption through sustained governance and stronger societal assurance; and (10) strengthen Singapore’s position as a trusted hub for open exchange and substantive partnerships.”
🇮🇳 India | Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology | 20 May 2026 — India launched AIKosha as a unified repository of datasets, models, use cases, and toolkits for AI development, research, startups, students, and public-sector innovation.
“AIKosha will provide a unified repository of datasets, models, use cases and toolkits to enable researchers, startups, students and government agencies to build AI solutions tailored to Indian needs and languages.”
Source: Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology
China AI Governance, Algorithms, and Ethics
🇨🇳 China | National Network Security Standardisation Technical Committee / TC260 | 19 May 2026 — China released Ethics-Safety Guidelines for Artificial Intelligence Applications 1.0, presenting a human-centered and “AI for good” approach to AI governance.
“China on Tuesday released a technical guideline on the ethics and safety of artificial intelligence applications, offering a Chinese approach that emphasizes human-centered development, AI for good and human leadership over AI systems.”
Source: https://global.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202605/19/WS6a0c6a11a310d6866eb4985c.html
🇨🇳 China | Cyberspace Administration of China | 18 May 2026 — China issued new guidance on synthetic-content governance, emphasizing labeling, platform responsibility, and controls against misleading or harmful AI-generated information.
“Providers of generative and synthetic-content technologies must strengthen content labeling, improve identification capabilities, and prevent the use of AI-generated information for rumor fabrication, impersonation, fraud, or other unlawful activities.”
Source: Cyberspace Administration of China
🇨🇳 China | Ministry of Industry and Information Technology | 9 May 2026 — China launched an AI ethics review pilot program in provincial-level regions with national AI industrial innovation and application pilot zones.
“The pilot program will first be carried out in provincial-level regions that are home to national pilot zones for AI industrial innovation and application in a bid to explore practical approaches to implementing AI ethics review and service mechanisms.”
Source: https://english.www.gov.cn/news/202605/10/content_WS69fff23ac6d00ca5f9a0adba.html
🇨🇳 China | Cyberspace Administration of China | 8 May 2026 — China reported initial compliance results from its negative list for lifestyle-service platform algorithms, covering food delivery, ride-hailing, online shopping, travel, and ticketing platforms.
“Platforms including Meituan, Taobao Flash Delivery, Taobao Tmall, JD.com, Didi, Amap, T3, Baidu, Manbang, Huolala, Pinduoduo, Douyin, Ctrip, and Qunar have implemented 63 optimization and improvement measures, committed to 139 algorithm requirements, and are advancing 125 items within set deadlines.”
Source: https://www.cac.gov.cn/2026-05/08/c_1779979790806325.htm
🇨🇳 China | Cyberspace Administration of China | 6 May 2026 — China published the seventeenth batch of domestic deep synthesis service algorithm filing information under the Deep Synthesis Regulations.
“Deep synthesis service providers and technical supporters shall carry out filing, modification, and cancellation procedures in accordance with relevant provisions.”
Source: https://digitalpolicyalert.org/change/6175/
Platform Safety, Synthetic Media, and Online Harms
🇦🇺 Australia | Federal Court / eSafety Commissioner | 21 May 2026 — Australia’s Federal Court imposed penalties on X Corp for noncompliance with a transparency notice on child sexual exploitation and abuse material.
“The respondent admits that it contravened the Act… There was ongoing noncompliance for some 38 days.”
Source: https://www.esafety.gov.au/industry/legal-proceedings-involving-esafety
🇸🇬 Singapore | Infocomm Media Development Authority | 20 May 2026 — Singapore issued letters of caution to X and TikTok and placed both platforms under enhanced supervision for weaknesses in detecting harmful online content.
“Both X and TikTok have accepted IMDA’s findings and committed to put in place specific measures to rectify these serious weaknesses, in particular to enhance their automated detection systems through the use of AI and incorporation of additional signals.”
🇦🇺 Australia | eSafety Commissioner | 20 May 2026 — Australia issued a formal notice against a major “nudify” service over alleged failures to prevent the creation of AI-generated intimate images of minors.
“These so-called ‘nudify’ apps and websites are designed to sexually exploit and humiliate people, including children, by creating fake nude images without consent.”
Source: eSafety Commissioner
AI, Labor, Investment, and Industrial Policy
🇨🇳 China | National Development and Reform Commission | May 2026 — China prohibited foreign investment in the Manus project on national security grounds.
“The Office of the Working Mechanism for Foreign Investment Security Review has made a decision to prohibit foreign investment in the Manus project in accordance with laws and regulations, and has required the parties involved to withdraw the acquisition transaction.”
Source: National Development and Reform Commission
🇨🇳 China | Chinese court | May 2026 — A Chinese court ruled that companies cannot terminate employees merely to replace them with artificial intelligence systems.
“A Chinese court ruled that companies cannot terminate employees just to replace them with artificial intelligence systems.”
Source: Chinese court reporting
🇨🇳 China | State Council | May 2026 — China further outlined legislative projects addressing cyberbullying and the healthy development of artificial intelligence.
“Legislative projects on addressing cyberbullying and the healthy development of artificial intelligence.”
Source: State Council
Cybersecurity and AI Supply Chains
🇺🇸 G7 / United States | Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency | 15 May 2026 — CISA published minimum elements for AI Software Bills of Materials to support AI supply-chain transparency, model provenance, and lifecycle risk management.
“AI SBOMs can improve transparency into AI systems and help organizations better understand software dependencies, model components, data sources, and associated risks throughout the AI lifecycle.”
Source: U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency
🇸🇬 Singapore | Infocomm Media Development Authority | 20 May 2026 — Singapore warned against deploying the open-source AI agent framework OpenClaw in mission-critical environments after testing found significant safety and operational risks.
“The model demonstrated concerning behaviours when given unrestricted access to tools and system functions, highlighting the need for strong guardrails before such agentic systems are deployed in sensitive or mission-critical settings.”
Source: IMDA, as reported by The Straits Times
🇸🇬 Singapore | Cyber Security Agency / Google | 19 May 2026 — Singapore’s CSA and Google published findings from an AI agents security sandbox examining prompt injection, tool misuse, and autonomy risks.
“As AI agents become more capable and autonomous, understanding their cybersecurity risks is critical.”
Source: Cyber Security Agency of Singapore
🇦🇺 Australia | Australian Signals Directorate | 9 April 2026 — Australia published guidance on the cyber security implications of increasingly capable frontier AI models.
“A clearer picture has emerged of what these kinds of models can, and cannot do, and what this means for Australian organisations.”
Source: Australian Signals Directorate
Privacy and Data Protection
🇭🇰 Hong Kong | Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data | 19 May 2026 — Hong Kong published a generative AI data security checklist covering governance, data minimization, human oversight, transparency, accuracy, and cybersecurity safeguards.
“When organisations develop or use generative AI, they should formulate internal AI governance policies and procedures, assess the necessity and proportionality of the personal data collected and used, and implement appropriate security measures throughout the AI lifecycle.”
Source: Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data, Hong Kong
🇰🇷 South Korea | Personal Information Protection Commission | 19 May 2026 — South Korea published a user guide for generative AI privacy covering prompts, training use, data retention, deletion, opt-outs, and personal information management.
“We hope this guide helps answer key questions — such as whether data is used for AI training and how records can be deleted — and serves as a first step for users to directly inspect and manage their own personal information.”
Source: Personal Information Protection Commission
🇦🇺 Australia | Office of the Australian Information Commissioner | 14 May 2026 — Australia closed its Commissioner-initiated investigation into Property Lovers and fastproperty.ai, finding no contravention of the Privacy Act during the relevant period.
“The report concludes that the products and services offered by Property Lovers, under the fastproperty.ai platform, during the relevant period, did not collect, use or disclose personal information in contravention of the Privacy Act.”
Copyright, Patents, and AI-Generated Content
🇰🇷 South Korea | Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism / Korea Copyright Commission | 18 May 2026 — South Korea released the English version of its guide on how fair use may apply to training generative AI models on copyrighted works.
“Guide on Applicability of the Fair Use Doctrine to Training of Generative AI Models.”
Source: Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism / Korea Copyright Commission
🇸🇬 Singapore | Intellectual Property Office of Singapore | May 2026 — Singapore opened an inquiry into the relevance of the UK Supreme Court’s Emotional Perception AI decision to Singapore patent practice.
“The Supreme Court held that inventions involving artificial neural networks may be patentable, provided that they demonstrate a technical character.”
Source: Intellectual Property Office of Singapore
🇨🇳 China | Huangpu District People’s Court | May 2026 — A Guangzhou court issued China’s first criminal verdict involving copyright infringement for AI-generated short dramas.
“The Huangpu District People’s Court sentenced two individuals to eight months’ imprisonment, suspended for a year, and issued fines after they were found guilty of illegally recording and reselling more than 1,700 audiovisual works.”
Source: Huangpu District People’s Court
Analysis
🌏 Asia | Microsoft | May 2026 — Microsoft reported that Asia has the highest rate of AI diffusion, with South Korea, Thailand, and Japan showing the strongest recent movement.
“Notable developments in the quarter included accelerating AI adoption in Asia driven in part by improving AI capabilities in Asian languages.”
Source: Microsoft
Consultations and Advocacy Deadlines
🇰🇷 South Korea | Ministry of Science and ICT | 19 June 2026 — South Korea closes consultation on amendments to the Enforcement Decree of the AI Basic Act, including transparency obligations, safety measures, and procedures for AI business operators.
“MSIT prepares the draft Enforcement Decree by specifying and clarifying matters delegated by the AI Basic Act, including transparency obligations, safety measures for high-impact AI, and procedures related to AI business operators.”
Source: https://www.msit.go.kr/eng/bbs/view.do?bbsSeqNo=42&mId=4&mPid=2&nttSeqNo=1191&sCode=eng
🇸🇬 Singapore | Intellectual Property Office of Singapore | 28 May 2026 — Singapore closes its inquiry into the relevance of the UK Supreme Court’s Emotional Perception AI decision to local patent practice.
“The decision raises noteworthy issues relating to patentable subject matter and inventive step that may be relevant to the development of patent practice in Singapore.”
Source: Intellectual Property Office of Singapore
The Asia AI Policy Monitor is the monthly newsletter for Digital Governance Asia, a non-profit organization staffed by volunteers dedicated to spreading information about Asia’s AI governance strategies. If you are interested in contributing news, analysis, or participating in advocacy to promote Asia’s rights-promoting innovation in AI, please contact our editor.
The Asia AI Policy Monitor is the monthly newsletter for Digital Governance Asia, a non-profit organization staffed by volunteers dedicated to spreading information about Asia’s AI governance strategies. If you are interested in contributing news, analysis, or participating in advocacy to promote Asia’s rights-promoting innovation in AI.