The New York Post reported Wednesday (April 7) that they obtained a copy of confidential internal data from Shanghai’s Pudong International Airport showing that nearly 700 Americans were secretly placed on a watch list by Communist authorities at immigration, including U.S. government workers, corporate CEOs, and even 9-year-old children.
The data was first obtained by Internet2.0, an Australian cybersecurity firm, and later shared with the New York Post. Security experts said the lists were originally stored on the servers of the Shanghai Public Security Bureau, and the revelation was a glimpse to the outside world of the Communist Party’s massive data collection efforts on foreigners.
It is unclear why nearly 700 Americans were flagged as they passed through immigration checkpoints at airports. Experts are also unsure if the travelers were specifically selected for inclusion in the database or if this was part of a broader Communist Party surveillance operation.
700 Americans blacklisted, corporate executives, researchers among them
According to the New York Post, the highly classified database contains a spreadsheet with names, dates of birth and passport numbers of 697 U.S. citizens who were blacklisted when they passed through Shanghai’s Pudong International Airport in 2018 and 2020, and even some children were flagged.
Many on the list are researchers or professors at U.S. universities – including an executive at New York University in Shanghai. Also on the list are corporate executives in the fields of finance, technology and biomedicine, including executives from major U.S. companies such as Apple, Microsoft, GE Healthcare, Pfizer and Merrill Lynch.
Grammy Award-winning R&B singer Ashanti Douglas, who cleared customs from Shanghai Pudong International Airport in August 2018, is also on the list. The star’s assistant was not immediately available for comment.
An employee of the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of International Organization Affairs is also on the list. There is also a documentary filmmaker who has two children and frequently travels between California and South Korea.
Others on the list appear to be ordinary tourists, such as college students and even children as young as 9 years old.
Cybersecurity expert: Communist China is collecting personal information from ordinary foreigners
Internet2.0, the cybersecurity firm that obtained the list, said it gives “an unprecedented look at how China [the Chinese Communist Party] is using technology to build its surveillance state and how it is using data as a means of control.
“This system gives us a glimpse into China’s (CCP) ambition to collect everything it can receive and impose its will on the jurisdiction, violating norms of privacy and accountability.” Robert Potter and David Robertson, co-CEOs of Internet2.0, said in a statement.
While governments, including the United States, keep a watch list of suspected terrorists or people alleged to have committed serious crimes, these records from the Chinese Communist Party are completely different in that it is shown to be collecting and storing personal information on ordinary foreign visitors.
Australia and Britain have also had citizens blacklisted and are already investigating the matter
According to the list that came to light, in addition to the 700 Americans on it, there are 161 Australian citizens, including a former Australian intelligence chief.
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reported last week that security officials there have obtained the data and are investigating.
Britain’s Telegraph newspaper reported that the list contained more than 100 British citizens, some of them government officials or business leaders, and that Britain’s MI5 was also investigating the matter.
Internet2.0 found that in addition to details of international visitors, the database also contained a blacklist of people monitored or questioned in Shanghai, many of whom were considered “terrorists,” including thousands of Uighur Muslims.
They argue that this shows that the Communist authorities are “blurring the lines between law and order, counterterrorism and political crime.
“Within this system, because there are no constraints, information is collected from almost everyone.” A statement from the co-CEO of Internet2.0 concluded.
Expert: Any foreigner visiting China can be tracked by the Chinese Communist Party
Samantha Hoffman, a senior analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute and a researcher on Chinese surveillance, told the ABC that she has seen similar public safety databases in China.
“I’ve seen evidence that other Chinese cities and provinces are developing the same type of system in a standardized way,” She said.
Hoffman said that while the latest blacklist that has come to light shows information for a limited period of time, it has shown “how foreigners are caught by China’s surveillance system as they enter and leave the country.”
She added, “It shouldn’t be an uncommon thing for any foreigner visiting China that they might be tracked [by the Chinese Communist Party authorities].”
Neither the Chinese Communist Embassy in Washington nor the U.S. State Department immediately responded to the New York Post’s request for comment.
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