During the COVID-19 pandemic, surveillance in China reached an unprecedented scale. President Xi Jinping aims to make this expanded control permanent and even push it further. The Chinese Communist Party has long wielded a sweeping surveillance apparatus, but the pandemic provided an opportunity to intensify these efforts. Xi Jinping's strategy includes embedding the party deeply into daily life to prevent any form of dissent or trouble from arising. This approach involves using as many as 15 million ordinary people as local government informants, and employing tactics such as officers patrolling apartments and officials recruiting retirees as extra eyes and ears. Xi refers to this strategy as 'stability maintenance,' a catchall term for containing social problems and silencing dissent, leading to a super-surveillance state.
"This is the local governance Xi wants: more visible, more invasive, always on lookout for threats. Officers patrol apartments listening for feuding neighbors. Officials recruit retirees as extra eyes & ears. Employers who report regularly to the police" https://t.co/abSJiQcXUv
NYT: Xi Jinping is “the main dictator of the planet” The publication writes that the Chinese leader prefers “more visible and more aggressive local control in the search for real or perceived threats.” Dehumanisation of Xi is escalating, using the same play book as in the past. https://t.co/pUp8vRaN6r
During the COVID-19 pandemic, surveillance in China reached an unprecedented scale, and President Xi Jinping wants to make that expanded control permanent, or push it even further. | via @nytimes https://t.co/r8dYYl6wTe
The Chinese Communist Party has long wielded perhaps the world’s most sweeping surveillance apparatus against activists and others who might possibly voice discontent. https://t.co/qA880V4yCG
Must-read article by @vwang3 in Beijing on the increasing control of people’s everyday lives under Xi Jinping. https://t.co/BTvbwSc8HR
"The Chinese Communist Party has long wielded perhaps the world’s most sweeping surveillance apparatus against activists and others who might possibly voice discontent." That intensified during the pandemic, which Xi Jinping is now making permanent. https://t.co/C0WkSxPvmG
Terrified of the Chinese people, Xi has built a vast surveillance system for "nipping problems in the bud“ before they yield public dissent. He calls it “stability maintenance”—"a catchall term for containing social problems and silencing dissent." https://t.co/C0WkSxPvmG
NYT: "The goal is no longer just to address specific threats, such as the virus or dissidents. It is to embed the party so deeply in daily life that no trouble, no matter how seemingly minor or apolitical, can even arise." @vwang3 https://t.co/ox9KOBPE5K
China super-surveillance state: Chinese communists use as many as 15 million ordinary people as local government informants: @NYTIMES.
Xi Jinping Revives Decades-Old Playbook To Supercharge China's Surveillance State https://t.co/ldMs3bxYKq
In China, the surveillance of residents, businesses and schoolchildren reached an unprecedented scale during the coronavirus pandemic. The country's top leader, Xi Jinping, wants to make that expanded control permanent, and to push it even further. https://t.co/Crd9SoivHS