Law and Digital Transformation in the Indo-Pacific: An International Economic Law Perspective

Abstract

The Indo-Pacific has become a key site for legal responses to the global digital economy. While the region includes several advanced digital markets, major differences in infrastructure and regulatory capacity remain. Governments are introducing domestic, regional, and plurilateral instruments that affect how trade, investment, and data flows are handled. This article argues that these efforts mark a wider turn in international economic law, away from harmonization and toward coordination through interoperability and mutual recognition. Yet law does not always improve outcomes. New rules can encourage cooperation, but they can also exclude or reinforce geopolitical tension. This article examines how governments across the Indo-Pacific are building legal tools that respond to digital expansion while managing external pressure and internal constraints. These experiments are uneven and incomplete, but they reveal how the region is moving from passive rule-taker to active contributor in setting terms for the global digital economy.