Chinese tech companies are nurtured by the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) handbook to monitor, censor, and condition public opinion online and they support state-driven agenda to promote absolute control of cyberspace in the country, says an article by Sergio Restelli in The Times of Israel.
The article ‘State Surveillance: Semocracies and Autocracies’ states that the Chinese Communist Party’s longing ambition in efforts to expand and strengthen its political and economic influence worldwide hails from the proliferation of Chinese surveillance technology and cyber tools and the associated alliances between both state and private Chinese institutions.
It said Israel’s objective is largely defensive, to prevent attacks on its territory/protect its citizens, and it is important to nip such a thesis in the bud.
“The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) plays a pivotal role in exercising laws that bolster the rigid regulatory environment and strategies to seize power over the cybersecurity of China. Israel on the other hand is a startup nation. The internet, its free access is the basis of innovation and the huge number of unicorns that it prides itself.”
The Golden Shield Project (GSP), popularly known as the “Great Firewall of China,” was introduced as a surveillance initiative launched in 1998, to curate a fully digitized public security sector by using a national surveillance network by exercising control over data management. The project also included a national Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) network intended to digitize the public sector. The early stages of GSP development relied on American and Canadian-made technology, companies like IBM, Intel, Cisco, and Oracle have provided hardware and software in China’s surveillance network.
“The project is managed by the Ministry of Public Security of China and mainly focuses on collecting data and utilizes communication technology (ICT) systems to enhance its ability to unify command, rapid response, and coordinated effort to address the challenges of China’s national security to filter contents and censorship online abiding by domestic law that seeks to curate online discourse,” the article said.
Xi Jinping vowed to turn China into a “cyber power.”
“Chinese tech companies are among the largest firms in the world. These tech firms are nurtured by CCP’s handbook to monitor, censor, and condition public opinion online Chinese tech firms support state-driven agenda to promote absolute control of cyberspace in China. The CCP’s procurement of public security technology and innovation policy is driving China’s surveillance operational ecosystem. The surveillance tools are utilized to conduct intensive surveillance operations on targeted groups that are presumed to be threats to China’s social stability,” it added.
“Similarly, Weibo, a Chinese social media platform was reprimanded in 2018 allowing the government to censor certain tags and posts to eliminate rumors about China.
The Times of Israel article said the Chinese party-state is operationally engaging in data collection on a massive scale across multiple domains.
“The Chinese companies supply AI surveillance technology in sixty-three countries, out of which thirty-six have signed onto China’s Belt and Road Initiative. Recent studies show that China also illegally accesses data from public surveillance camera’s its companies have supplied to monitor European streets, public buildings etc,” it said. (MILAP NEWS NETWORK)
