China’s Surveillance State | Christopher Balding
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SHOW DESCRIPTION
Location: New York
Date: Wednesday, Oct 23rd 2019
Role: Professor
The CCP's ever-expanding surveillance state is eroding the limited freedom left in China. Tactics such as facial recognition, social credit system and information warfare are used to intimidate and control the population.
Censorship is rife, and The Great Firewall of China blocks sites and content, including references to the Tiananmen Square massacre, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google, Wikipedia and even Winnie the Pooh.
Many Chinese 'replica' sites operate in a similar space to these; however, there is a distinct difference; they are highly censored and closely monitored. If you search for or try and send a message using Weibo or WeChat and it contains 'Tank Man', 'Tiananmen Square Massacre', 'Free Tibet' or anything else that is on the Chinese Government block list, your message never arrives.
The Chinese Communist Party has a tight hold on the data you consume and share. So, why are other countries so keen to allow China to build their national infrastructure and telecoms networks?
The Belt and Road is a global development initiative in which the Chinese Government build rail and road links across much of the world, in essence, a 'New Silk Road'. These projects are especially prevalent in Asia, Africa and parts of South and Central America. The Chinese Government call this "a bid to enhance regional connectivity and embrace a brighter future" but others see this as a way of China using 'debt-trap diplomacy'. By building expensive infrastructure countries are left indebted to China, perhaps indefinitely, handing leverage to China on future trade deals and negotiations.
While countries like the US are sceptical about this Chinese initiative, other western countries seem to be embracing it. Recently the UK's finance minister Phillip Hammond called the project 'a vision'.
Similarly to the Belt and Road, the Huawei 5G network is spreading throughout the world. The US has again taken a firm stance against it based on fears of spying and citing Huawei's gaping security holes. However, many other countries are still considering allowing the Chinese company to build their 5G networks.
In this interview, I speak to Christopher Balding, a Professor at the Fulbright University in Vietnam. We discuss the Chinese surveillance state, free speech, the Belt and Road and the persecution of the Uygurs.
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TIMESTAMPS
00:00 - Show Intro
02:26 - Welcoming Christopher to the show
04:23 - Christopher’s background
08:13 - Christopher no longer welcome in China
15:27 - The 4 T’s
17:28 - The consequences of speaking out in China
19:30 - The Belt and Road Initiative
24:02 - The exportation of Chinese surveillance
24:19 - Huawei exporting 5G networks
27:01 - Huawei security flaws
34:41 - Why are western governments accepting the security and surveillance risks
36:23 - Bending the knee to China
39:49 - The persecution of the Uyghurs
45:05 - What happens next in China
SHOW NOTES
Connect with Christopher:
More about China’s surveillance state:
TechCrunch: Two-thirds of 5G networks use Huawei equipment
Reuters: UK to make decision on whether to allow Huawei 5G network
Wikipedia: Belt and Road Initiative
Associated Press: China ‘payday loan diplomacy’
Forbes: China is using facial recognition to track minorities
Mentioned in the show:
New York Times: Daryl Morey’s tweet supporting Hong Kong protestors causes China backlash
The Guardian: Quentin Tarantino won't censor Once Upon a Time in Hollywood for China
Wikipedia: ‘Banned in China’ South Park episode
Financial Times: Shane Todd, Death in Singapore
Washington Post: Xi Jinping’s quest to revive Stalin’s communist ideology
History: Fall of the Soviet Union
IMDB: The Firm
Wikipedia: 1984 by George Orwell
YouTube: Footage of China’s Uyghurs Shackled and Blindfolded
Reuters: U.N. urged to investigate organ harvesting in China
Wikipedia: United States, Hong Kong Policy Act
Washington Post: Shaquille O’Neal sides with Daryl Morey
People mentioned in the show:
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