Mass surveillance in China
Mass surveillance in the People's Republic of China (PRC) is the network of monitoring systems used by the Chinese central government to monitor Chinese citizens. It is primarily conducted through the government, although corporate surveillance in connection with the Chinese government has been reported to occur. China monitors its citizens through Internet surveillance, camera surveillance, and through other digital technologies.[2][3] It has become increasingly widespread and grown in sophistication under General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Xi Jinping's administration.[4][5][6][7]
Background[edit]
Mass surveillance has significantly expanded under the PRC Cybersecurity Law (2016) and with the help of local companies like Tencent, Dahua Technology, Hikvision, SenseTime, ByteDance,[8] Megvii, Yitu Technology, Huawei and ZTE, among many others.[9][10][11][12][13][14][15] As of 2019, it is estimated that 200 million monitoring CCTV cameras of the "Skynet" system have been put to use in mainland China, four times the number of surveillance cameras in the United States.[2][16][17] By 2020, the number of surveillance cameras in mainland China was expected to reach 626 million.[18][19][20] As of August 2023, the country had over 700 million surveillance cameras according to online data, one lens for every two citizens.[21] The coronavirus pandemic has accelerated the implementation of mass surveillance as it has provided a plausible pretext to do so.[4][22]
History[edit]
Origin[edit]
Mass surveillance in China emerged in the Maoist era after the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949.[23] Mao invented this mechanism of control that encompassed the entire nation and its people in order to strengthen his power in the newly founded government.[23] In the early years, when technology was relatively undeveloped in China, mass surveillance was accomplished through disseminating information by word of mouth.[23] Chinese people kept a watchful eye on one another and reported inappropriate behaviors that infringed upon the dominant social ideals of the time.[23] According to a 1987 publication, computer and Internet technology spread to China in the late 20th century as a result of the Chinese economic reform.[24]
Spending estimates[edit]
In 2010, domestic security expenditure exceeded spending on external defense for the first time. By 2016, domestic security spending surpassed external defense by 13%.[193]
In 2017, China's spending on domestic security was estimated to be US$197 billion, excluding spending on security-related urban management and surveillance technology initiatives.[193] In the same year, the central government's total public security spending in Xinjiang reached 57.95 billion RMB, the equivalent of US$9.16 billion, which is ten times the spending of the previous decade.[47]
In 2018, China spent the equivalent of US$20 billion purchasing closed-circuit television cameras and other surveillance equipment.[194] This large number of purchases reaches half the size of the global market's, according to an estimate reported in a state newspaper.[194]