China’s surveillance state expands under Xi Jinping

China’s surveillance state returning to the spotlight, rumors about Chinese President Xi Jinping’s health resurfacing, and three Chinese scammers being sentenced to death for pig-butchering schemes highlight this week’s highlights, foreignpolicy.com reported.

Surveillance Expansion Under Xi Jinping

Monitoring and control have expanded significantly under Chinese President Xi Jinping, according to two recent New York Times reports cited by foreignpolicy.com. Security cameras are now omnipresent in Chinese cities, and accessing the foreign internet requires a trip abroad to install once-common virtual private networks. Real-name registration rules, introduced for mobile phones in 2010, now make it nearly impossible to obtain mobile internet without an ID card. No-show motels that rented rooms without identification have almost disappeared, a trend accelerated by a crackdown on Uyghur Muslims.

The technological network relies heavily on human enforcement. While monitoring a single prominent activist in 2010 required up to 100 people, security paranoia by the end of the decade placed an armed police officer on every alley corner in central Beijing and half a dozen guards at subway checkpoints. However, the system retains gaps, such as residential facial recognition systems that leave side gates open for delivery workers.

Zero-COVID Enforcement and Local Government Debt

Every component of China’s surveillance apparatus activated between 2020 and 2022 under the zero-COVID policy. Dining at a restaurant at the same time as someone who later tested positive meant individuals were tracked down within a day and forcibly quarantined for two weeks. Enforcing ubiquitous testing and gate-guarding required a massive workforce, heavily drawing on unemployed migrants.

While the system kept deaths low in 2020, it eventually failed to contain the virus and could not stretch beyond urban areas, where villages sealed their own gates. The restrictions created severe economic friction and placed a heavy financial burden on local governments, which have not recovered from the debts incurred despite bailouts from Beijing. Mass protests in 2022 ultimately helped drive Beijing to reverse course.

Xinjiang Control and Security Crackdowns

In Muslim-majority Xinjiang, deadly riots and ethnic violence in 2009 prompted a nearly yearlong internet shutdown. That led to mass internment, coerced labor, and attempts to destroy Uyghur culture. Today, Xinjiang is monitored more closely than any region outside Tibet. Ironically, Ma Xingrui, an architect of the Xinjiang surveillance system, was purged.

Economic Slowdown and Health Speculation

China’s National Week holiday saw weak domestic and international travel spending, hitting a four-year low. High unemployment, economic anxieties regarding artificial intelligence, and a 36 percent drop in cinema box office takings compared to last year have dampened consumer spirits. Meanwhile, speculation regarding Xi’s health has resurfaced after the 73-year-old leader needed extra rest during a state visit to the United States and appeared to walk shakily at the airport.

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