Kai Strittmatter, former China correspondent for the Süddeutsche Zeitung, said in a presentation of his new book that the Chinese Communist authorities are actively embracing the Internet and artificial intelligence technologies, using them to build a “police society” in order to consolidate their power. He points out that the Chinese government is using Xinjiang as a testing ground for digital totalitarianism by deploying mass surveillance systems and collecting biometric information on civilians.
Speaking at a seminar on the book at the Hudson Institute, a U.S. think tank, on Feb. 25, German journalist Kai Ma, who has lived in China for more than three decades, recently published a new book, “We Have Been Harmonized: Life in China’s Police Society,” said that since 2017, the Chinese government, under Xi Jinping‘s leadership, has been using big data and artificial intelligence to build a new kind of digital totalitarianism. digital totalitarianism.
China enters a new era of digital totalitarianism
Unlike Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping, Xi Jinping is more focused on suppressing dissenting voices in society, which is facilitated by the development of Internet technology: “Xi Jinping loves control, he loves stability, and he is once again stirring up speech suppression in China. This is something we haven’t seen since the days of Mao Zedong. So we’re seeing a return to ideologies like Marxism-Leninism and Xi Jinping’s ideas, and we’re seeing a concentration of power to the center and a shift from one-party dictatorship to one-man dictatorship.”
Ma Kai said the CCP believes that new technologies such as artificial intelligence and big data do not pose a threat to its rule. On the contrary, the CCP has actually found that these new technologies can provide them with new tools to refine their rules of rule and make their rule more risk-resistant.
Ma Kai mentioned that unlike the Stalinist totalitarian rule of terror, the digital totalitarianism currently practiced in China is more advanced and is achieved by implanting a sense of self-censorship. For example, he said that while the Chinese government has deployed a nationwide “Skynet” surveillance system, it is unclear whether it can effectively assist the Chinese government with facial recognition. To some extent, however, it doesn’t matter: “The point is not whether the Skynet system is effective in identifying every citizen, the point is that everyone believes they can be identified. The Communists are now using these high-tech surveillance technologies to internalize control. Once you believe this is true, then you no longer need the police, because you will be your own police.”
According to the People’s Daily, an official Communist Party media outlet, in 2017, China has built the world’s largest video surveillance network by deploying video surveillance equipment for image capture and real-Time monitoring in complex places such as major traffic routes and security checkpoints. The People’s Daily claimed that the SkyNet system can accurately identify vehicle types, pedestrian dress, gender and even age.
Xinjiang is a testing ground for the Communist Party’s digital totalitarianism
Ma Kai said, “Xinjiang has an integrated platform for joint operations, and the police can see anything you do through this system. The system collects data on all Xinjiang citizens and alerts the police if there are potential suspects. Anyone who behaves suspiciously will be sent to a detention camp. Xinjiang is an extreme and important example of a testing ground for the Chinese government’s use of high technology to strengthen its rule.”
Nury Turkel, chairman of the board of directors of the Uyghur Human Rights Project, who attended the conference, said that since 2017, local authorities in Xinjiang under Xinjiang Autonomous Region Party Secretary Chen Quanguo have used the provision of free medical examinations and incentives to apply for passports to collect biological information, including facial features, fingerprints and DNA, from Uyghurs and other minority groups in Xinjiang on a large scale. “Former U.S. Secretary of State Pompeo has said that the genocide committed by China in Xinjiang is unique. I believe he was referring to the use of high-tech aspects.”
To date, more than 80 countries around the world have embraced Chinese surveillance technology, posing a great threat to global democracy, civil liberties and privacy protection, said Tukelar. He called for greater international attention and action from the perspective of maintaining national security: “We will see the U.S. take more concrete measures to protect the Uighur community in the U.S., which I think is a good model for other democracies to follow. In addition, the industry should unite, and Silicon Valley has a great responsibility in banning any export of technology to the CCP that is used to suppress the people. As Blinken said, next he will stop U.S. companies from assisting in any way the genocide committed by the CCP in Xinjiang.”
Last month, Secretary of State Blinken endorsed former Secretary of State Pompeo’s policy decisions on the CCP’s Crimes Against Humanity and genocide of the Uighurs in Xinjiang during his Senate confirmation hearing, representing a continuation of the current administration’s hard-line stance on China on the Xinjiang issue.
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