Untitled (Chengdu)

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Chinese authorities’ efforts to gather data about citizens have attracted growing attention, from DNA collection and AI-enhanced video and audio surveillance with face or voice recognition, to the emerging and widely misunderstood Social Credit System. Much of the work of tracking perceived threats to Party rule and social stability, though, is still done with digital but relatively low-tech public security databases; descendants of the analogue dang’an 档案 personal file which, as The New York Times’ Andrew Jacobs wrote in 2015, “documents matters mundane and profane. The dossiers start with a citizen’s middle-school grades, whether they play well with others and, as they become adults, list their religious affiliations, psychological problems and perceived political liabilities.”

The following list was posted anonymously by someone claiming to have worked for many years in China’s public security system, and to have compiled these dozens of tags used to describe individuals in public security databases after coming to see such tools as instruments of oppression. In addition to terrorism and ordinary criminal matters such as violence, gangs, and the drug trade, the tags cover a wide range of other official sensitivities. These include potential sources of political and economic unrest or public anger, from democracy advocates and supporters of independence in Xinjiang, Tibet, and elsewhere, to victims or operators of pyramid schemes, retired veterans, and “left-behind” rural residents. Some labels denote family circumstances such as single, impoverished, or poorly educated parents or variously vulnerable children; others highlight mental health issues and threats of “revenge on society.” Others hint at the depth of information apparently contained in these digital profiles, where knowledge of firearms, explosives, and minority languages sits alongside proficiency in calligraphy, stage performance, and film projection.

Working within the public security system for over a decade, I felt all along that big data and “big intelligence” can help us frontline personnel to more conveniently solve cases—theft, violent crime, gang crime, and so on. In the last few years, however, I’ve realized that big intelligence has become an instrument of persecution of ethnic minorities (in Xinjiang, Tibet, and elsewhere) by the Party. I’ve decided to remain silent no longer, and to speak out about the extent to which big data has already been abused. For the sake of my own safety, I can say no more about my own identity. Don’t worry about me: after all, I’m extremely familiar with their methods of investigation.

Within the public security system, we have a number of ways of categorizing, tagging, and depicting people, generally on the basis of personal information already held on the individual, with people screened accordingly. This personal profile can only be viewed within the comprehensive police system: it’s completely inaccessible to ordinary community officers.

The personal tags are sorted into several major categories: there are those involved in terrorism, those involved in social instability, fugitives, those involved with drugs, those with criminal records, local persons of interest—every province, city, town, autonomous region and municipality has its own different categories, such as “involved in terrorism” in Xinjiang, “involved in smuggling” in Guangxi border towns, “involved in fraud” in places with high incidence of phone scams, and so on according to local authorities’ own decisions. There’s a political category, violent terror category, mass incidents category, extremists, problematic disputes category, and so on.

Among these, those involved in terrorism are sorted into:

• Person involved in terrorism
• Person involved in Xinjiang
• Key person involved in Xinjiang terrorism
• Person related to domestic terrorist or separatist organization
• Person released after sentence or re-education for violent terrorism
• Person related to leads in a case involving terrorism or violence
• Relatives of those shot dead by authorities or sentenced as terrorists
• Technical personnel with knowledge of firearm or explosives construction
• Person attempting to leave the country to join a terrorist organization
• Organizer of or participant in religious extremist activities
• Disseminator of religious extremism or terrorist ideology
• Person showing unusual behavior after returning to China from a country of interest

Those involved in instability:

• Person involved in instability
• Person involved with Tibet
• Falun Gong or other evil cult member
• Falun Gong member
• Harmful Qigong practitioner
• Fake religionist
• Person involved with Japan
• Person with military experience
• Discharged volunteer soldier
• Veteran of Unit 8023 [troops involved in nuclear weapons testing]
• Veteran of the Sino-Vietnamese War
• PLA cadre transferred to civilian business
• Demobilized officer
• Personnel demobilized due to disability
• Other person with military involvement
• Person involved with various kinds of economic crime and instability
• Person involved in pyramid selling
• Person involved in the “Jingcai Shenghuo” pyramid scheme
• Person involved in the Wanjia Gouwu pyramid scheme
• Person involved in illegal fundraising
• Categorized under “Tianjin private equity fund”
• Person involved in the Guangdong Bangjia Leasing Company illegal fundraising case
• Person involved in unrest from the Henan Danbao illegal fundraising case
• Person involved in unrest over Fanya
• Person involved in unrest over eZubao
• Person involved unrest over various other economic crimes
• Abnormal visitor
• Key internet figure
• Person of interest to Domestic Security Department with criminal record
• Person with criminal record for treason or separatism
• Case of treason or separatism
• Case of treason against the state
• Separatism case
• Case of inciting separatism
• Case of armed revolt or riot
• Case of inciting armed revolt
• Case of subversion of state power
• Case of inciting subversion of state power
• Case of criminal activities funding endangerment of state security
• Person with criminal record for treason or defection
• Treason or defection case
• Case of going over to the enemy
• Defection case
• Person with criminal record for spying or financially supporting the enemy
• Case of spying or financially supporting the enemy
• Spying case
• Case of financially supporting the enemy
• Person with criminal record of stealing, spying, buying, or illegally providing classified intelligence to foreign parties
• Case of stealing, spying, buying, or illegally providing classified intelligence to foreign parties
• Stealing classified intelligence for foreign parties
• Spying for classified intelligence for foreign parties
• Purchasing classified intelligence for foreign parties
• Illegally providing classified intelligence to foreign parties
• Previous record of other crimes endangering state security
• Other cases of endangering state security
• Uyghur
• Other types of person involved in unrest
• Laid-off bank employees
• Community teacher
• Film projectionist
• Other person involved in unrest

I don’t need to go into fugitives, people involved in drugs, or those with criminal records, you all know about them.

In terms of local persons of interest, there’s one category found everywhere across the country: “person expressing extreme opinions.” Have a think about what might constitute an extreme opinion. I won’t go into detail, because discussing who constitutes persons of interest in various regions might reveal where I am located.

Political categories:

• Democrat/Separatist
• Xinjiang independence
• Tibet independence
• Inner Mongolian independence
• Shanghai independence
• Guangdong independence
• Taiwan independence
• Other
• Democracy movement
• Participant in the 1989 student rebellion
• Key person in higher education
• Other
• NGO
• Evil cult
• Falun Gong
• Harmful qigong practitioner
• Illegal religious practitioner
• Other
• Key person of interest to the Domestic Security Department
• Person of interest to the Domestic Security Department with criminal record
• Case of treason and splitting the country
• Case of betraying the country
• Case of splitting the country
• Case of inciting splitting the country
• Case of armed rebellion or revolt
• Case of instigating armed rebellion
• Case of subverting state power
• Case of inciting subversion of state power
• Case of criminal activities supporting harm to national security
• Person with criminal record for treason or defection
• Case of treason or defection
• Case of going over to the enemy
• Defection case
• Person with criminal record for spying or supporting the enemy
• Case of spying or supporting the enemy
• Espionage case
• Case of supporting the enemy
• Person with criminal record for stealing, spying, buying, or illegally providing classified intelligence to foreign parties
• Person with criminal record for stealing, spying, buying, or illegally providing classified intelligence to foreign parties
• Case of stealing, spying, buying, or illegally providing classified intelligence to foreign parties
• Case of stealing classified intelligence for foreign parties
• Case of spying for classified intelligence for foreign parties
• Case of buying classified intelligence for foreign parties
• Case of illegally providing classified intelligence to foreign parties
• Previous record of other crimes endangering national security
• Other case of endangering national security
• Key internet figure
• Key media figure
• Journalist conducting illegal newsgathering within [China’s] borders
• Foreign journalist
• Other

Violent terror categories:

• Violent terror category
• Key figure involved in Xinjiang terrorism
• Person related to domestic terrorist or separatist organization
• Uyghur criminal
• Person released after sentence or re-education for violent terrorism
• Person related to leads in a case involving terrorism or violence
• Relatives of those shot dead by authorities or sentenced as terrorists
• Person attempting to leave the country to join a terrorist organization
• Organizer of or participant in religious extremist activities
• Disseminator of religious extremism or terrorist ideology
• Person showing unusual behavior after returning to China from a country of interest
• Technical personnel with knowledge of firearm or explosives construction
• Person endangering security in Xinjiang
• Person suspected of terrorist involvement
• Uyghur criminal
• Key person of interest to Domestic Security Department in Xinjiang (person involved in great danger to stability in Xinjiang)
• Person connected with someone endangering security in Xinjiang
• Person of interest regarding Tibetan religion
• The eight classes of monks and priests
• Returnee involved with Tibet
• Person involved with Tibet illegally leaving or entering the country
• Person endangering security in Tibet
• Person involved with terrorism and related matters

Group incident categories:

• Graduate placement
• University, high school, or technical college graduate group
• Salaried individuals receiving social welfare benefits
• Relief fund for laid off bank employees
• Business restructuring
• Involved with the military
• Groups involved with the military that have placements and wages
• Groups of rank-and-file soldiers discharged in the 70s or 80s
• Groups of veterans without placement cards
• Groups that bought out of military service
• Other
• Community teacher
• Problems finding work
• Social security
• Involved in law or lawsuits
• Land dispute
• Pasture land dispute
• Environmental protection issue
• Public dispute
• Villager benefits
• Doctor-patient dispute
• Forest ownership dispute
• Corruption report issue
• Accident compensation
• Land requisition, demolition, and relocation of inhabitants
• Other

Extreme individuals:

• Acute mental patient
• Mental patient responsible for disturbance or accident
• Mental patient responsible for minor disturbance
• Mental patient with hidden violent tendencies
• Person threatening revenge on society
• Person who has exhibited extreme behavior

Others:

• Person involved with Japan
• Person involved with various kinds of economic crime and instability
• Case of illegal acquisition of public savings
• Multi-level marketing case
• Multi-level marketer
• Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx pyramid scheme case
• Illegal fundraiser
• Private equity fund category
• Other people involved with various kinds of economic crime and instability
• Religious person of interest

Local persons of interest:

• Deliberately propagating [rumors]
• Starting or spreading rumors
• Threats
• Gathering crowds to petition
• Irregular rights defense
• Irregular petitioning

Tags for those with history of mental illness:

• Multiple personality disorder
• Split sex disorder
• Persistent delusion disorder
• Bipolar disorder
• Mental disorder caused by epilepsy
• Mental disorder co-occuring with delayed mental development
• Severe depressive outbreak
• Mental disorders caused by psychoactive substances

The “Three Involvements”:

• Involved with drugs
• Involved with gangs
• Involved with firearms

The “Four Histories” [apparently for prisoners]:

• History of drug abuse
• History of escape [attempts]
• History of suicide [attempts]
• History of assaulting officers

Special abilities (those in bold paid special emphasis):

• Driving vehicles
• Piloting boats
• Flying planes
• Shooting
• Explosives
• Firearms
• Drawing
• Calligraphy
• Photography
• Videography
• Performance
• Engraving
• Communication technology
• Computer technology
• Legal counsel
• Psychological consultation
• Medical treatment
• Martial arts
• Repairs
• Foreign languages
• Minority languages
• Sign language

Left-behind people [by relatives migrating for work]:

• Left-behind elderly person
• Left-behind woman
• Left-behind child
• Family economic situation:
• No fixed income source
• With fixed income source
• Low-income family
• Impoverished

Family circumstances tags:

• Low-income family
• Single-parent family
• “Floating” [mobile] family
• Parent or guardian’s education level relatively low
• Not on good terms with parents
• Frequent bad behavior among family members

Youth tags:

• Idle youth
• Youth with bad or seriously bad behavior
• Vagrant beggar minor
• Underaged children of convict
• Rural left-behind child

That’s the end of the individuals’ tags. Now let’s talk about big data. These days you have to show ID to do anything, but do you know where the data goes? As you youngsters say, a picture’s worth a thousand words.

Anyone above the rank of criminal police can view these at will—for example, I always look up which internet cafes my son goes to, or whichever girls he books hotel rooms with. There are access logs, but no one oversees them.

I can’t answer any questions—this is a throwaway account. [Source]

© Samuel Wade for China Digital Times (CDT), get_post_time('Y'). | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: surveillance
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The Chinese government’s continued denial of the purpose of extralegal re-education camps that are reportedly holding up to one million Uyghurs and other Turkic Muslims in Xinjiang is now being met with increasingly strident criticism by governments from the U.S. to Europe to Asia. Much evidence exists to counter Beijing’s claims, including a growing number of personal testimonies of torture and mistreatment, a compendium of government procurement and construction bids, a cross-checked satellite imagery repository depicting the centers’ expansion, and new reports that at least 56 Uyghur lecturers and researchers from Xinjiang University are being detained.

Last week, in her first speech as U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, two-time former Chilean president Michelle Bachelet proposed that international monitors enter Xinjiang. Beijing then accused her of listening to “one-sided information”, and asked her “to scrupulously abide by the mission and principles of the U.N. charter, respect China’s sovereignty, and fairly and objectively carry out its duties.”

American senators and officials have responded by considering sanctions on seven Chinese officials—including former Tibet Party Secretary and current Xinjiang Party Secretary Chen Quanguo—under the Global Magnitsky Act. The act authorizes travel-related and financial-based sanctions to be imposed on individuals responsible for gross human rights violations or corruption.

Since then, Senator Marco Rubio and Representative Chris Smith—who were also among the lawmakers calling for sanctions—proposed last week stronger export restrictions on equipment that could fuel China’s high-tech dystopian surveillance practices in Xinjiang. Christopher Bodeen at AP reports:

Sen. Marco Rubio and Rep. Chris Smith want foreign entities, including businesses, research institutions, government and private organizations, and individuals seen as profiting from the clampdown added to a watch list, the two Republicans, among the staunchest critics of China in the U.S. Congress, said in a letter Wednesday to Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross.

[…] Dozens of Chinese companies are already on the “Entity List,” though none with an explicit, direct link to the oppression in Xinjiang. The U.S. has long maintained restrictions on the export of crime control and detection equipment to China.

Listing would place the entities under export administration regulations requiring American companies wishing to sell to them to be subject to “specific license requirements for the export, re- export and/or transfer (in-country) of specified items,” according to the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security.

[…] “Given the national integration of China’s state security apparatus, we believe there should also be a presumption of denial for any sale of technology or equipment that would make a direct and significant contribution to the police surveillance and detection system,” the letter said. [Source]

A potential stumbling block towards a more united sense of condemnation from the West is President Trump’s disinterest towards upholding human rights worldwide. The Editorial Board at the New York Times highlights what should be done:

One problem is that President Trump’s own fondness for strongmen and indifference to human rights undermines his administration’s criticism of China. And his anti-immigrant policies and imposition of tariffs on Chinese imports hardly incline Beijing to listen to lectures on what it considers internal matters.

While important, just condemning China’s ruthless practices is unlikely to be enough when Mr. Xi is doubling down on his totalitarian ways. His government has denied re-education camps exist while expanding them further.

To encourage China to change course, the United States and Europe will need to impose sanctions on Mr. Chen, the regional party boss, and others involved in the mass detention project, including Chinese companies underwriting surveillance systems. American companies should be barred from selling technology that abets human rights abuses. [Source]

Australia, which has hotly debated how to defend itself against Chinese foreign influence operations, has also raised concerns about Beijing’s increasingly oppressive activities in Xinjiang. The Australian National Imams Council called the treatment of Uyghurs “inhumane and unbearable” and called for the Australian government to respond. Following a review by the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, Australia’s opposition Labor Party stated it was “deeply concerned by continuing reports of the mass detention of China’s minority Uighur population and other violations of human rights.”

The Guardian’s Simon Tisdall details how such concerns may also strain ties with Europe:

[…] The stand-off highlights one of the most challenging 21st century dilemmas for western democracies: how to sustain the pretense that an increasingly totalitarian China is a “normal” country with which they can do business.

[…] Xi’s success in abolishing term limits and establishing himself, de facto, as unelected “paramount leader” for life, his aggressive stance over the South China Sea, Taiwan and Hong Kong, his party purges, and his nationwide curbs on religious freedoms, free speech and independent media all add up to a wider challenge to western double standards. European countries seek a “golden era” of trade, investment and new markets, exemplified by Theresa May’s Beijing visit in February. At the same time, their most cherished beliefs and values, long enshrined in international law, are being shredded by a regime that treats their opinions with disdain.

In this sense, Xinjiang is a test case. So far China has avoided any significant political costs. Its UN security council veto protects it from meaningful censure. But the western democracies are not without leverage and influence, from the use of economic sanctions to political and moral pressure applied across a range of international platforms. If the abuses suffered by Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar require investigation by an international criminal tribunal, as the UN has suggested, then so too does Beijing’s pitiless war on the Uighurs. China’s slide into totalitarianism is accelerating. But who among western leaders will admit that the price of doing business is too high? [Source]

Partly due to economic and trade incentives, in addition to pressures on Uyghurs abroad to spy on and report one another, Muslims worldwide have been largely silent on the ongoing plight that Muslims in Xinjiang have faced. Now, however, the tides are turning. Anwar Ibrahim, who is slated to become Malaysia’s next prime minister, has called for formal talks with China.  The Uyghur community in the U.S. has assembled testimonies that were sent to the U.N. Uyghur youths have described the intense emotional burden of being stranded abroad while their parents’ whereabouts remain unknown. In Saudi Arabia, the husband and mother of a Uyghur woman detained in a re-education camp released an appeal to the Saudi government to advocate for her release. In Kazakhstan, Deutsche Welle has interviewed several family members of those interned and former camp inmates. Meanwhile, 150 Muslims protested in Mumbai against the detainment of Muslims and operation of re-education camps, chanting “Down with China” and holding signs stating that China was “snatching religious freedom,” while protests continued in Bangladesh:

Read more about the ongoing crackdown in Xinjiang, via CDT, an in-depth interview with Darren Byler on the “de-extremification” campaign, or a Wall Street Journal piece on long-standing motivations to suppress Muslims in Xinjiang.  

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Post tags: Australia relations, Europe relations, Malaysia, muslims, surveillance, Uyghurs, Xinjiang, Xinjiang re-education camps
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The Chinese government has intensified its crackdown on religion as President Xi Jinping seeks to instil party loyalty above all else. The forced closure of Beijing’s Zion church earlier this month represents a heightened assault on independent “house” churches and a further escalation of repression that was previously seen in mass church demolitions, cross removals, and the detention of Christian activists. Online Bible sales are now prohibited after new regulations closed loopholes allowing online retailers to carry the scriptures. These moves coincide with government efforts to “Sinicize” religion and further limit the religious freedom of China’s ethnic minorities. As many as one million Muslim Uyghurs are currently held in mass detention centres and re-education camps in Xinjiang where they are forced to renounce their religious identity and undergo mandatory political indoctrination.

The Washington Post’s Anna Fifield looks at the motive behind Xi’s crackdown on religion:

Xi appears to be waging a campaign against religion because he was concerned about ideological rivalry, said Karrie Koesel, a University of Notre Dame expert on religion in China.

The Communist Party is outnumbered 4 to 1 by followers of various religions. There are about 90 million members of the Chinese Communist Party, but 70 million Christians alone, according to the Pew Research Center.

Christians make up about 5 percent of the population and Muslims less than 2 percent, while about 18 percent identify as Buddhist, according to Pew.

“Some of these groups are growing very quickly, and that makes the government very nervous,” Koesel said. “It’s not because they’re challenging the state, but the state sees religion as an existential threat. That’s why they’re increasing political education.”

The Chinese government has denied embarking on any crackdown against religion. The foreign ministry has repeatedly said that the government wants to ensure “the harmonious coexistence” of different ethnic groups and religions in China. [Source]

New guidelines have been drafted to regulate the “chaotic” promotion of religion online. Religious content sent through messaging apps and other online channels are expected to be affected. David Stanway at Reuters reports:

All organizations engaged in the dissemination of religious information online will be obliged to apply for licenses from provincial religious affairs departments, the paper said, citing a policy document issued on Monday.

While the license will enable them to “preach and offer religious training”, they will not be allowed to live-stream or broadcast religious activities. The dissemination of religious information anywhere other than their own internet platforms is also forbidden.

The guidelines also specifically prohibit online religious services from inciting subversion, opposing the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party and promoting extremism and separatism. [Source]

Meanwhile, China and the Vatican are set to sign a landmark deal at the end of this month that would end a prolonged stalemate on the contentious issue of the appointment of bishops in the country. The proposed agreement would involve official Chinese acknowledgment of the pope as head of the Catholic Church in China in turn for Vatican recognition of seven formerly excommunicated Chinese bishops, who were appointed by the Chinese government without Vatican approval. The pending agreement has sparked criticism as Hong Kong’s former archbishop urged against the deal. This latest round of Sino-Vatican negotiations bears out speculations made earlier this year when Vatican sources expressed optimism over a likely deal with Beijing that would allow the Chinese government to have greater say in clerical appointments. It came after the Vatican agreed at the end of January to replace two of its bishops by those approved by the Chinese Communist Party.  From Francis X. Rocca and Eva Dou at The Wall Street Journal:

At the last meeting of the negotiating teams, in Rome in June, the Vatican assured the Chinese representatives that Pope Francis would sign the necessary document to lift the excommunications of the seven government-appointed bishops and recognize them as the bishops of their dioceses about a week before the deal is signed, said one of the people familiar with the matter.

That recognition would require two bishops who have shunned government control, in the dioceses of Shantou and Mindong, to step aside in favor of government-appointed bishops. They would be the first so-called underground bishops to be asked to do so by the Vatican.

[…] Also as part of the deal, the government is expected to recognize the “underground” bishop of Qiqihar, near the Russian border, one of the people said. Qiqihar Bishop Wei Jingyi couldn’t be reached for comment Friday.

The agreement is explicitly provisional, meaning that it allows for the possibility of revisions after one or two years if either party sees the need. Both parties have agreed that the text of the agreement won’t be published even after it is signed, one of the people said.

Critics of the prospective deal have cast it as a capitulation by the Vatican. [Source]

Warming relations between China and the Vatican have raised concern for the Taiwanese government, who fear the potential risks that the imminent deal poses to Taiwan-Vatican relations as Beijing seeks to isolate Taiwan diplomatically. From the AFP:

Taiwan’s foreign ministry spokesman Andrew Lee said the government would “not take lightly” any agreement between the two sides.

But asked whether the Vatican had given Taiwan any assurances that it would not sever official ties, Lee said he believed the deal would not touch on diplomatic recognition.

“I think the religious affairs agreement concerns issues of religious cooperation and exchanges, and will not involve issues of diplomatic ties,” he said at a briefing.

“We hope our ties with the Vatican will last a very long time even if the agreement were signed,” he added. [Source]

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Post tags: Catholic Church, Christianity, ideology, pope, religious freedom, religious persecution, Vatican, Vatican relations
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