China uses tech as tool of repression to monitor citizens: US commission

Chairman Robin Cleveland and Vice Chairman Carolyn Bartholomew of the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission said that China's move to use technology as a tool of repression is "politically motivated to sustain the Party".

Wuhan, China. (REUTERS)

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is committed to the production and use of technology that controls and surveils its population, according to a congressional commission of the US.

In a joint statement to Fox News, Chairman Robin Cleveland and Vice Chairman Carolyn Bartholomew of the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission said that China's move to use technology as a tool of repression is "politically motivated to sustain the Party".

"The Chinese Communist Party is committed to the production and use of technology that controls and surveils its population. The decision to use these tools of repression is politically motivated to sustain the Party," the statement read.

The Chinese government monitored every corner of Beijing by state-of-the-art surveillance cameras. Facial recognition algorithms matched with images filed away in a secret database could see you in legal trouble for something you did near your front door. A semi-political post made in a private chat could lead to the loss of your job.

According to the report in Fox News, surveillance has become a booming business in the world's most populated country with scores of tech start-ups moving in to meet the market demand with the government's encouragement.

Several human rights activists said that the enterprise has quickly become a critical apparatus for suppression and abuses, especially on minority groups.

Beijing uses a system called the Integrated Joint Operations Platform (IJOP), which has the ability to audit entire populations.

The system is developed by a state-owned military contractor China Electronics Technology Corporation, IJOP. It is said to have been copied by Chinese military theorists researching how the US military used information technology during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and enhanced from there.

"From there, it can rapidly produce names of people classified as "suspicious" -- and thus marked for possible detention -- purely as a result of their travel patterns abroad, mobile applications installed and key phrases used in bulletins or private messages, sometimes as basic as asking someone else where they can pray," the report said.

Joseph Humire, Executive Director for the Center for a Secure Free Society (SFS), told Fox News that Xinjiang serves as the "central nervous system of surveillance" in China, which is an IJOP that prompts you to enter identifying information, such as when you grow a beard, leave your house, or your blood type, etc.

"These apps try to determine your pattern of life, and if Chinese authorities determine any change in your pattern of life, they come to visit you," he told Fox News.

"It is targeting the whole population with the focus on anyone who has independent thinking," said Xiaoxu "Sean" Lin, a microbiologist and activist/spokesperson for the Washington-based Falun Dafa Association.

"Many technologies are involved in facial recognition including Facial Action Unit analysis, facial expression recognition, deep neuro network analysis, facial muscle movement recognition, topographic modelling, deep machine learning and supercomputer technologies," Xiaoxu added.