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Evidence shows that Dahua Technology Is behind Xinjiang’s Surveillance Network

IPVM, a U.S. based company focusing on video surveillance, released a video report on Thursday, November 5, which revealed a secret it discovered in the products of Dahua Technology, a partially state-owned publicly traded company based in China which sells video surveillance products and services. The report stated that the wording “EM_NATION_TYPE_UYGUR” was found in the code of a product downloaded from Dahua Technology’s website.

These English words mean “ethnic type: Uyghur.” Next to these words are the Chinese characters of “维族 (新疆),” meaning “Uyghur (Xinjiang).” One can tell that this video surveillance software has a facial recognition function for Uyghur facial features.

IPVM contacted Dahua Technology for an explanation, but Dahua declined to comment. IPVM reported that the relevant information on Dahua Technology’s website was deleted about 30 minutes after IPVM made the contact.

Dahua Technology, headquartered in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, is one of China’s largest artificial intelligence companies. As of 2019, it occupied the second largest share of the global video surveillance equipment and service market, with an annual revenue of US$3.7 billion. The company has 16,000 employees.

Governments around the world have strongly condemned the concentration camps in Xinjiang that imprison millions of Uyghur Muslims. The huge video surveillance network has enabled Chinese police to arrest and repatriate Uyghur Muslims who had fled across the country.

Dahua and many artificial intelligence companies in China have participated in the construction of this network. They use artificial intelligence technology to design facial recognition software based on the facial features of the Uighurs, and they help the police to achieve all-round control of the Uighurs. Wherever Uighurs flee, they will be located quickly, detained or deported.

IPVM discovered that more than a dozen public security units in China have installed such software. Dahua claims it has won almost $1 billion in massive Xinjiang police surveillance deals.

The US government sanctioned Dahua in October 2019 because of its complicity in human rights abuses against Uyghurs. In response, Dahua bragged about how this showcased its “strong technology.” South China Morning Post reported that, last month, the company changed its product brand and still promoted its products on Amazon.

Dahua Technology’s main competitors are Hikvision, Megvii Technology, SenseTime and Yitu Technology. All of them have participated in the Xinjiang video surveillance network projects. Several of them are also on the United States’ sanctions list.

Source: Voice of America, November 5, 2020
https://www.voachinese.com/a/Dahua-racist-Uyghur-tracking-revealed-20201105/5649563.html

Briefings | | |   Information/Technology

Chinese Officials Sacked for “Carrying Politically Problematic Books”

China’s Hunan provincial government website announced on October 29 that Chen Zehui, a former deputy mayor of Changsha city, was expelled from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and transferred to the procuratorial organ for investigation and prosecution. The notice alleges that Chen violated political discipline and that he purchased books and periodicals from abroad, which had serious political problems, stored them privately, and read them for a long time. Other charges include the violation of the CCP’s code of conduct, the acceptance of gifts of particularly large amounts, and suspicion of taking bribes.

A highlighted charge is about purchasing and reading “banned books.” A civil rights activist Huang Xiaomin told Radio Free Asia that, “The purpose is definitely to nip it in the bud and punish a few individuals as an example to others. It is to intimidate officials who wanted to spread views dissenting from those of the CCP.  …  One main reason is that some open-minded officials are increasingly aware of the problems in the current Chinese society.”

Similar incidents occurred in Huainan city of Anhui province. According to the Supreme People’s Procuratorate’s website, in June, Li Zhong, the former deputy mayor of Huainan City along with a member of the CCP committee of the city government, were investigated and disciplined for violating political discipline, bringing in books and magazines with serious political problems into the country without permission, as well as embezzling public funds.

Another mainland Chinese newspaper Beijing News reported in March that Li Bin, a mid-level officer at Chongqing city’s police bureau, was probed for “serious violation of discipline and the law.” The authorities accused Li of “losing his ideals and secretly bringing books with serious political problems into the country and reading and storing them.”

Source: Radio Free Asia, November 2, 2020
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/zhengzhi/QL-11022020035358.html

Briefings | | |   Government/Politics

China’s State Banks’ Profits Fall and Bad Debts Rise

China’s big five state banks announced their financials on Friday October 30 and stated that their profits and debts have continued to deteriorate.

The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), which has the largest number of assets, posted a 4.7 percent decline in third-quarter profits.

The Bank of Communications (BoCom) reported a drop in net profits of 12.36 percent year-on-year in the first three quarters. The bank’s non-performing loan ratio was 1.67 percent, an increase of 0.2 percentage points from the end of the previous year.

The Bank of China’s net profit dropped 8.7 percent year-on-year, and the group’s asset impairment losses were nearly 100 billion yuan, an increase of 60 percent year-on-year. The total debt was 22.6 trillion yuan, an increase of 8.68 percent over the end of the previous year. The non-performing loan ratio was 1.48 percent, an increase of 0.11 percentage points over the end of the previous year.

According to Chinese media, in the first half of this year, at least 1,300 bank outlets and branches were closed. A total of 26,000 state bank employees were laid off.

China’s Securities Daily newspaper quoted Pan Helin, a professor from Zhongnan University of Economics and Law. He stated that, although only a small portion of the publicly listed banks disclosed their third-quarter financial reports, they are the best performers in the industry and their profitability is stronger than the unlisted banks. Among the large number of unlisted banks, based on the financial reports of nearly a hundred companies that have already disclosed their financial performances, profits have fallen sharply. According to Securities Daily, the proportion of loss-making companies is as high as 75 percent. 31 companies saw a double digit drop in net profits.

Reuters reported that Guo Yi, an analyst with Wanlian Securities, said the degree of economic recovery will impact expectations for the asset quality of banks, with banks likely to see corporate loan repayment pressure peaking around mid-2021.

Earlier in the year, the Chinese government asked banks to lower mortgage standards in order to reduce corporate losses and curb the impact of the epidemic. The government also asked banks to delay corporate loan repayments to increase economic liquidity. It is hard to tell how many bad loans will be brought to the banks through the use of this measure. Experts believe that the consequences will be unraveled in the next few months.

Source: Voice of America, October 30, 2020
https://www.voachinese.com/a/China-banks-seen-facing-persistent-bad-loan-pressures-after-third-quarter-earnings-drop-20201030/5641898.html

Briefings | | |   Economy/Resources

U.N. Gave Names of Uighur Dissidents to China, Said Former Employee

Emma Reilly, a former employee of the United Nations Human Rights Council, said in an interview with a British radio station on Sunday that the UN Human Rights Council secretly provided the Chinese government with the names of Uyghur dissidents who came to the Human Rights Council to testify against China’s human rights violations, and that this situation has lasted for many years.

Reilly said that before each meeting of the UN Human Rights Council, the Chinese government would ask the United Nations whether specific individuals were planning to attend the session. Her boss provided the Chinese government with a list of Uyghur dissidents.

Reilly said, “It is completely against the rules to hand over that kind of information to any government, but the UN makes an exception for China, and only for China. It gives them the names, and China uses that information to harass these people’s family members who are still based in China.”

Reilly said she has been denouncing this since 2013, and this has been going on for years. For speaking out, the UN deprived Reilly of all functions.

The U.S. Congress is now investigating Reilly’s allegations against the UN. Rep. Michael McCaul (R., Texas), an outspoken critic of China, told the Washington based Free Beacon that he is investigating the allegations in his role as the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s lead Republican.

“The U.N. was founded on protecting human rights,” McCaul said. “If this report is true, it is very troubling. We are looking into these allegations.” Sources at the Foreign Affairs Committee also confirmed they are probing the allegations, which could implicate the U.N. in China’s efforts to spy on the Uighur community.

Source: Voice of America, November 3, 2020
https://www.voachinese.com/a/un-misconduct-report-probed-11032020/5646966.html

Briefings | | |   Geo-Strategic Trend

Huawei in the Submarine Fiber Optic Cable Market

Submarine fiber optic cables are considered one of the most important infrastructures in the digital age. They carry almost all Internet information transmissions around the globe. In recent years, China has risen rapidly in this field, which Western companies have traditionally dominated. Among the 400 some submarine optical cables in the world, the Chinese telecom company Huawei Marine has constructed or upgraded 105 of them.

TeleGeography, a Washington based telecommunications market research and consulting firm, has been mapping the world’s submarine cables. The latest statistics show that there are currently 406 submarine cables in the world. Alan Mauldin, the company’s research director, told Voice of America (VOA) that although China’s Huawei Marine has a relatively small market share, it has become one of the world’s four largest submarine cable contractors and has constructed most of the world’s submarine cables. The other three are SubCom in the U.S., the Alcatel Group in France, and NEC in Japan.

Huawei Marine was once a subsidiary of Huawei. After the U.S. launched a series of sanctions against Huawei in June of last year, Huawei sold the company to Hengtong, China’s other top fiber optic cable manufacturer. Hengtong claims to be a private enterprise. Its founder, Cui Genliang, is both the chairman of the group and the head of the company’s Chinese Communist Party (CCP) committee.

According to data from Huawei Marine’s official website, the company has so far built or upgraded 105 submarine cables around the world. One recent project in December 2015 was the upgrade of the West Africa Submarine Cable System (WACS) that provides high-speed network access for 14 countries along the west coast of Africa from South Africa to the United Kingdom.

China’s state media People’s Daily reported last week that Chinese companies have not only become important global integrators in the construction of submarine cables, but also possess the world’s leading optical communication technology in submarine cable transmission, with “the production and sales of optical fiber cables accounting for more than half of the world’s market share.”

Compared with Huawei’s mobile communication equipment, the security risks posed by China’s submarine cable business have rarely been mentioned. However, in recent months there have been signs that the United States has begun to pay close attention. In April this year, the U.S. Department of Justice rejected the inclusion of Hong Kong in a fiber optic cable network across the Pacific Ocean due to national security considerations. The project, Pacific Light Cable Network (PLCN), involves a number of technology companies in the United States, including Facebook and Google. The original plan for the optical cable’s landing station in Hong Kong was to be operated by China’s Chengdu Dr. Peng Telecom & Media Co., Ltd. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said in a press release: “Routing undersea cables through Hong Kong would provide the People’s Republic of China with a strategic opportunity to collect the private information of our citizens and sensitive commercial data. Hong Kong is subject to intrusive Chinese government laws that put the Chinese Communist Party’s demands for information ahead of the privacy of U.S. consumers.”

Earlier this year, the U.S. State Department put forward an initiative to protect network infrastructure, which also included submarine cables in the five major clean areas. So far, more than 40 countries have responded to the US’s “Clean Network” initiative.

In addition, a member of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) recently called for a more rigorous review of submarine cables. Geoffrey Starks, who once served in the U.S. Department of Justice, said the FCC “must ensure that adversary countries and other hostile actors can’t tamper with, block, or intercept the communications they carry.”

Source: Voice of America, October 31, 2020
https://www.voachinese.com/a/us-china-battle-over-submarine-cables-20201031/5642937.html

Briefings | | |   Information/Technology

Chinese Netizen Punished for Accessing Wikipedia Website

Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported a social media post showing the screenshot of a notice from China’s Zhejiang provincial government that penalized a netizen for bypassing the great fire wall to browse the Wikipedia website. The police were able to locate and arrest the individual.

The facts, as shown in the notice, are about Zhang Tao, was the netizen who the police charged with the illegal activity. “From the first half of 2019 to October 2020, Zhang searched and downloaded the circumvention software LANTERN, with which he repeatedly bypassed the fire wall to access the Wikipedia website illegally to query information.”

The notice also stated that on Saturday October 24, the police seized Zhang and took him from a building for investigation. The police believed that Zhang used mobile circumvention software to access international networks in order to obtain information. It was an “unauthorized use of illegal channels for international networking.” The police imposed administrative penalties on Zhang under article 6 and article 14 of China’s “Implementation Rules for Provisional Regulations of the Administration of International Networking of Computer Information.” The police also issued an admonition and warning to him, ordering him to disconnect from the international network immediately.

The RFA reporter called the Zhejiang provincial government and asked, “How can you tell whether an Internet user was browsing the Internet illegally?” The answer was, “All activities circumventing the fire wall to browse anti-Party and anti-social content” are illegal.

The California-based China Digital Times found that there were nearly 70 cases of punishment for “bypassing the fire wall” as shown on the Zhejiang provincial government’s website.

Source: Radio Free Asia, October 29, 2020
https://www.rfa.org/cantonese/news/wiki-10292020090454.html

Briefings | | |   Information/Technology

CCP Tightens Media Control during the Fifth Plenary Session

The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) cyber censorship authorities have further tightened their grip on the media in order to create a stable and peaceful political and public opinion atmosphere for the Fifth Plenary Session of the 19th Central Committee of the CCP held in Beijing between October 26 and 29.

On October 22, China Digital Times, a California-based bilingual news website covering China, published the instructions that Beijing had issued for the Fifth Plenary Session.

This notice issued to the media detailed the requirements for propaganda control. It covered five concerns: “political rumors,” “national leaders,” “ideology,” “stability maintenance,” and “others.” The topics under close scrutiny included “harmful political rumors and information involving slander and attacks from abroad,” “exploitation of high-level infighting and power struggles, the next generation leadership, information on the successor (to Xi Jinping),” “harmful information that attacks, ridicules, and spreads rumors about leaders and important speeches,” “harmful information about leadership personnel changes, such as factional infighting, and the inner circle of Xi Jinping,” “publishing information on Hong Kong independence, Taiwan independence and the speeches of people supporting Hong Kong and Taiwan independence,” “harmful information that attacks our country’s political system, social system, the Party and the state,” and “Complaints about the Fifth Plenary Session.”

The notice also prohibits Internet platforms from highlighting reports involving vicious criminal cases, massive social unrest, campus incidents, as well as unauthorized use of overseas news.

Source: Voice of America, October 27, 2020
https://www.voachinese.com/a/Tightening-media-control-has-become-new-political-normal-in-China-before-major-events-20201027/5637612.html

Briefings | | |   Information/Technology

FCC Proposes Rules to Require Disclosure of Programs that Foreign Government Sponsor

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has proposed to adopt a new rule that will require that, if a foreign government sponsors any content in a TV or radio station, the station must make a public disclosure.

The decision was announced on Monday October 26. The Commission’s statement said, “the American people deserve to know when a foreign government has paid for programming, or furnished it for free, so that viewers and listeners can better evaluate the value and accuracy of such programming.”

The new rule “requires a specific disclosure at the time of broadcast if a foreign governmental entity has paid a radio or television station, directly or indirectly, to air material, or if such an entity has provided the programming to the station free of charge as an inducement to broadcast the material.” While the Commission’s current rules require a sponsorship identification when a station has been compensated for airing particular material, the rules require disclosure of the sponsor’s name and usually do not require that a station determine whether the source of the programming is in fact a foreign government or mandate that the connection to a foreign government is disclosed to the public at the time of broadcast.

Jessica Rosenworcel, an FCC commissioner, said in her written statement, “Right now, we are awash in reports that foreign actors are attempting to influence our political process and democratic elections in the United States. We also know that foreign entities are purchasing time on broadcast stations in markets across the country, including Russian government-sponsored programming right here in our nation’s capital. But it’s mindboggling that the FCC has yet to update its policies … to ensure that the public knows when foreign actors who may wish to do us harm are paying to access our airwaves and influence our citizens.”

In September, the FCC’s chair Ajit Pai proposed rules to ensure transparency of foreign government sponsored broadcast content. He said, “with some station content coming from the likes of China and Russia, it is time to update our rules and shed more sunlight on these practices.”

“Today we begin to fix this situation. We propose to adopt specific disclosure requirements for broadcast programming that is paid for or provided by a foreign government or its representative. This is about basic transparency and it frankly shouldn’t have taken us so long.” said Rosenworcel.

Source: FCC, October 26, 2020
https://www.fcc.gov/document/fcc-seeks-require-id-foreign-government-sponsored-programming

Briefings | | |   US-China Relations