In July last year, President Trump signed an executive order aiming to, “ensure that American AI technologies, standards, and governance models are adopted worldwide.”
The United States is also using APEC to promote American private-sector technologies designed to combat illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, which Washington says threatens food security and maritime sovereignty in parts of the Pacific.
Ruth Perry, Acting Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs, said on Tuesday China’s 18-million-strong distant-water fleet posed enforcement challenges for smaller coastal states.
“Many countries are negatively impacted and China is a perpetrator…the size of the fleet can’t be ignored across the Pacific,” Perry told Reutersnoting reports that suggest an unusual level of state coordination among its actions.
Perry said US companies were developing technologies including satellite vessel tracking, artificial intelligence-based analytics, acoustic detection systems and sensor-equipped ocean buoys to help governments monitor fishing activity. Illegal fishing is frequently linked to other transnational crimes including forced labour, trafficking and smuggling, Perry said.
Perry noted that China’s revised Fisheries Law is due to take effect from May. “They’re saying all the right things and we want to see if they’re going to follow through with those actions.”
(Reporting by David Kirton; Editing by Alexandra Hudson)
