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By 2022, Every Chinese Will “Own” Two Surveillance Cameras

According to a report that the market research institute IDC released on January 30, the deployment of video surveillance cameras in China will reach 2.76 billion units by 2022. With nearly 1.4 billion Chinese, on average, each person will “own” two surveillance cameras. The report also said that, in the next few years, China will spend another $30 billion on improving the technical capabilities of tracking activities .

China has become the world’s largest market for security and surveillance technology. Research firm IHS Markit predicts that China will purchase three-quarters of the servers used for facial recognition in video footage.

In recent years, with the advancement of smart city projects, the public video surveillance network has achieved rapid development. At present, facial recognition systems have been deployed in streets and alleys across China, recording every move that the people make. The government calls it a “smart city.” China has also built the world’s largest video surveillance system, which can accurately identify a pedestrian’s age, gender, and dress.

After the completion of China’s huge video surveillance system “Skynet Project,” another “Bright-as-Snow Project” targeting rural areas started last year and, for the first time, was included in the “No. 1 Document” of the Chinese Communist Party’s Central Committee. A Guangdong company launched a monitoring system for the “Bright-as-Snow Project,” which uses home TVs and smart phones to deliver surveillance videos to the house.

Source: Radio Free Asia, February 4, 2019
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/renquanfazhi/ql1-02042019104522.html

Briefings | | |   Information/Technology

Another Vaccine Scandal, Cheap Variant Passed off as Quality Product

China had yet another vaccine problem. This time, the child of parents in Hebei Province was supposed to have been vaccinated with a 5-way vaccine at a price 600 yuan (US$ 89). However,  a community health service center administered the Hib vaccine instead.

5-way vaccine, priced at 600 yuan (US$ 89), is for vaccinating against diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, polio, and the haemophilus influenza type b infection. However the Hib vaccine, which sells for around 100 yuan (US$ 15), targets only the haemophilus influenza type b infection, the last of the five diseases. In other words, the functions of 5-way vaccine include the function of the Hib vaccine and more. The swap would potentially expose the child to diseases that the Hib vaccine cannot prevent.

The local government of Shijiazhuang city, where the community health center is located, announced on February 1 that the report of the “vaccination error” was true, although the vaccine had no quality problem. The center’s chief and a few staff members were fired immediately.

China has seen multiple vaccine scandals. Last year, Changchun Changsheng Biotech sold 252,600 doses of ineffective DPT vaccines to inoculate children. A month ago, in Jiangsu Province, a scandal occurred involving another expired vaccine, triggering mass protests and suppression from the government.

Source: Central News Agency, February 2, 2019
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/201902020166.aspx

Briefings | | |   Social Stability

Claws of the Panda: Canadian Journalist Warns of China’s Influence and Infiltration

At a time of tense relations between Canada and China, Jonathan Manthorpe, a long time a foreign correspondent and international affairs columnist, published a new book on February 2, “Claws of the Panda: Beijing’s Campaign of Influence and Intimidation in Canada.” The book portrays how the Chinese Communist Party has used a number of different means to infiltrate Canada and other Western countries.

Manthorpe said that Canada has had wrong expectations of China over the past 40 years. He said that Canada has two major blind spots on China. The first is the thought that, with the integration of China into the global economy, it will become a country that values democracy, human rights, and freedom. The second is the belief that China has no ambitions and it will not use its hegemonic powers to suppress other nations. Today, the Meng Wanzhou incident is only a tipping point for the outside world to see the true nature of the Chinese Communist Party.

Manthorpe said, “We can see how China is trying to be able to influence public life, business life and academic life in Australia, New Zealand, the United States, and Canada. The bits and pieces disclosed in the Meng Wanzhou incident are exactly the same as what was mentioned in the book. This invisible penetration of Western countries is terrible. Do you ask me whether China is dangerous? I said that the Chinese people are not dangerous, but the Chinese Communist Party is absolutely dangerous and terrible.”

“This (Meng Wanzhou incident) is a very important and positive wake-up call for Canadian political leaders and ordinary Canadians, that we have to adjust and revisit our relations with China. Dealing with China should depend on reality and cannot be based on our own expectations.”

A typical example in the book is how China stole Canada’s nuclear research program, the Slowpoke nuclear reactor. This nuclear reactor was a unique research innovation of Canada in the 1970s. But over the years, the details of this nuclear research were leaked to China bit by bit. Later, when a Canadian researcher visited China, he was surprised to find that China was stealing, copying, and reproducing the Canadian technology. In this competition of nuclear research, China completely defeated Canada.

Source: Radio Free Asia, February 2, 2019
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/junshiwaijiao/lf-02022019132637.html

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

To Buy Fireworks in Beijing Now Needs Real Name Registration

  • The first time a person wishes the purchase fireworks or firecrackers in Beijing, he now has to register for the purchase using his real name. For the record, the purchaser needs to provide personal identification information, a mobile phone number, and enter the type and quantity of fireworks and firecrackers into the computer database. According to media reports, a Beijing municipal official revealed that the number of retail outlets for purchasing fireworks and firecrackers will be reduced from more than 80 last year to no more than 30. The sales time window is from January 30 to February 9. The purpose of real-name registration is said to be strengthening the supervision of the flow of fireworks and firecrackers. “Every retail outlet will be equipped with special instruments and an ID card will be used for the purchase. Then, once a problem occurs, it can be traced back to the purchaser.”
  • Beijing is the second city after Xinjiang, which started in 2014, to have implemented real-name registration for purchasing fireworks and firecrackers.
  • Beijing will hold a number of major political events this year. First, the second “One Belt, One Road” international cooperation summit forum will be held in April. Following that will be the 70th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China. The government has been conducting a series of security deployments since New Year’s Day to ensure political security, including the sale of fireworks and firecrackers.
  • Source: Radio Free Asia, January 31, 2019
    https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/shehui/ql-01312019102334.html
Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

Chinese Military Expert on Protection against Nuclear Attacks

On January 30, 2019, People’s Liberation Army Daily, the official newspaper of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA), published an interview with a military expert, Qian Qihu.

Qian Qihu was born in October 1937. He is a military engineer and a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. He won China’s 2018 Highest Science and Technology Award. According to the article, for more than 60 years, Qian has been working on protective engineering research and personnel training. He established China’s theoretical system of modern protective engineering and solved some key technical problems, including nuclear weapons’ airborne explosions, ground-contact explosions, ground- penetrating explosions and new ground-penetrating bombs.

Qian said, “our national defense projects, especially underground protection projects, are the cornerstone of the country’s active defense strategy, the last line of defense for national security, and an important guarantee for our peaceful environment.”

Qian also said, “In the information battlefield, there have been great developments of satellite reconnaissance and surveillance technology, as well as the application of precision-guided weapons. As a result, the bunker buster missiles equipped with a smart fuze has a higher hit ratio, stronger ground-penetration ability, and more destructive power. All these pose greater challenges to the protection project. Recently, a country has tested hypersonic missiles that have a strong penetration capability. It is said that no anti-missile system can prevent it. When the anti-missile system fails to intercept it midway, the role of the ground and underground protection works stand out.”

Source: People’s Liberation Army Daily, January 30, 2019
http://www.81.cn/jfjbmap/content/2019-01/30/content_226530.htm

Briefings | | |   Defense/Military

Chen Zhu: WRSA to Strengthen People-to-People Diplomacy

The Western Returned Scholars Association (WRSA), also known as the Overseas-educated Scholars Association of China (OSAC), is a Chinese government-affiliated entity consisting of over 40,000 Chinese scholars and researchers who have studied outside of China. The Secretariat of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCCCP) heads the WRSA and the CCCCP‘s United Front Work Department now manages it.

On the evening of January 25th, Chen Zhu, vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress and the president of WRSA, attended WRSA’s 2019 New Year’s Gala and delivered a speech.

Chen said that, in 2018, WRSA did many explorations into carrying out people-to-people diplomacy and promoting China’s opening up policy to the world. At the “Third Sino-French Cultural Forum” in Xi’an, more than 600 representatives from various circles of China and France attended and reached a consensus on the “One Belt, One Road” initiative. The 16th “21st Century China Forum” was held in Switzerland, where the Chinese and Swiss guests had in-depth exchanges about the “Innovation, Cooperation, and Community of a Shared Future for Mankind.” The first Sino-German Science and Technology Forum in Germany proactively promoted the further pragmatic cooperation between China and Germany in science and technology.

Chen added, “At present, the world is facing a change that hasn’t happened over the past 100 years. The countries around the world are increasingly interdependent and form a Community of a Shared Future for Mankind in which we all have a stake in each other’s future. In 2019, the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, WRSA will vigorously carry out brand name people-to-people diplomatic activities. They include the 4th Sino-French Cultural Forum in France; the 17th “21st Century China Forum” in the UK; the 2nd International Think Tank Forum in Beijing; and the China-US Economic and Trade Forum in Guangzhou. At the same time, we will further strengthen foreign exchanges and increase connections, communication, and cooperation with foreign embassies, consulates, NGOs, and chambers of commerce.”

In 2013, Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee, attended the 100th anniversary of the establishment of WRSA and required that the WRSA become the “fresh blood of people-to-people diplomacy.” Subsequently, in 2016, the General Office of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCCCP) issued the “Opinions on Strengthening the Development of the Western Returned Scholars Association (Overseas-educated Scholars Association of China,” a very first and milestone document that the CCCCP issued regarding the work of overseas students.

Source: The Paper, January 26, 2019
https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_2909426

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

China’s ‘Deadbeat Map’ App Exposes Social Credit of People Nearby

Chinese authorities are testing a new application that allows mobile phone users to check the social credit of people nearby. This is China’s latest effort to use technology to implement a social credit system for its 1.4 billion citizens. The beta version of the app, known as the “Deadbeat Map” released on China’s most popular mobile platform WeChat, was tested in Hebei Province last week. The user can use the program to detect, within 500 meters of range, those who do not pay their debts.

With a click on a person’s icon on the map, the app will display that person’s personal information, including name, part of the address, and the offense.

Beijing Youth Daily, an official newspaper in Beijing, has praised this practice. The author said that the innovative measures of using technology to expose the deadbeats accurately are worthy of praise. The article said that, although the court arbitration dealt with those found untrustworthy, they had many evasive methods to escape from the court. The social platform can subject them to ethical pressure from acquaintances.

Critics are concerned that citizens’ privacy is violated. Delia Lin, a lecturer at the University of Melbourne in Australia, told the Daily Telegraph that those unable to pay their debts due to poverty will find themselves “subjected to this kind of surveillance and this kind of public shaming.”

WeChat users can also report the untrustworthy people through this small program. If they find leads about the “deadbeat’s” property, they can report it to the app’s editor, and the information will be submitted to the back-end administrator and then to the court enforcement authorities.

China began to develop a social credit system in 2011, giving credit scores to individuals and companies. The scores are used to determine whether someone can use specific services such as a loan application or transportation services.

The New York based Human Rights Watch, however, sees this as part of a massive surveillance plan of the Chinese government. The practice of using technology to collect public information, such as the widespread use of facial recognition technology and the installation of tracking chips in student uniforms has also drawn public criticism.

Source: BBC Chinese, January 25, 2019
https://www.bbc.com/zhongwen/simp/chinese-news-47004328

Briefings | | |   Information/Technology

Xi Jinping Speaks about Omnimedia

Omnimedia is a relatively new concept of media still in development. In China, the discussion of omnimedia started around 2008 or 2009. Although it may refer to different  people who may have different ideas, generally speaking, Omnimedia refers to a communication of information based on the integration of different channels of transmission – print, television, radio, Internet, mobile phone – and different means of presentation – text, images, animation, audio, and visual – so that the audience will absorb the information via multi-dimensions.

Xinhua News Agency reported that the Chinese communist party’s politburo held a group study session on January 25 in Beijing. Xi Jinping, the general secretary of the party, stressed that promoting media integration and building the omnimedia has become an urgent issue. “It is necessary to use the fruits of the information revolution to promote in-depth development of media integration and make the mainstream public opinion stronger.” The “mainstream public opinion” usually refers to the public discourse that is in line with the party’s ideology.

Xi said that the party’s newspapers and periodicals should strengthen the innovation of the means of communication and develop various new media such as websites, Weibo and WeChat channels, electronic newspapers, mobile newspapers, and Internet TV. This also should include exploration of interactive, service-oriented, and experience-oriented communication. The party’s voice should directly cover all types of user terminals.

At the same time, Xi demanded that new media adhere to the correct political direction. The mainstream media should provide more true and objective information with clear-cut views and in a timely manner, so as to take control of public opinion. Xi also emphasized safeguarding national political security, cultural security, and ideological security in terms of the contents of omnimedia communication, and guarding against the risks that new technologies, such as big data, may pose.

Source: Xinhua News Agency, January 25, 2019
http://www.xinhuanet.com/politics/2019-01/25/c_1124044208.htm

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics