China's mass surveillance state

[Oracle]

[Oracle]

Facebook, Quora, Whatsapp - they were created with the best intentions. But, the added pressure to add millions of users damned it. Yep, every entrepreneur wants to monetize, but while monetizing they give authoritarian regimes the voice to further subjugate their subjects. Not cool at all. I am for a ban on all these silicon valley useless products. Oh, I am for a ban the world over.

[Oracle]

Full version is coming.

[Oracle]

Full video:

China’s Uighur minority live a dystopian nightmare of constant surveillance and brutal policing. At least one million of them are believed to be living in what the U.N. described as a “massive internment camp that is shrouded in secrecy,” while many Uighur children are taken to state-run orphanages where they're indoctrinated into Chinese customs.

The Uighurs' plight has largely been kept hidden from the world, thanks to China’s aggressive attempts to suppress the story at all costs.

VICE News’ Isobel Yeung posed as a tourist to gain unprecedented access to China’s western Xinjiang region, which has been nearly unreachable by journalists.

She and our crew experienced China’s Orwellian surveillance and harassment first-hand during their time in Xinjiang, and captured chilling hidden-camera footage of eight Uighur men detained by police in the middle of the night. We spoke with members of the Uighur community about their experience in these camps, and about China’s attempts to silence their history and lifestyle under the cover of darkness.

[Double Edge]

^i like the part where she stalks the minder who's been following her for days.

It's pretty horrific what's going on there. Detain the parents, separate the kids then adopt them.

[Oracle]

^i like the part where she stalks the minder who's been following her for days.

It's pretty horrific what's going on there. Detain the parents, separate the kids then adopt them.

Slight correction. Not adopt the kids. Putting the kids in a secure compound with tall enough walls, with no one going in or coming out. It's very much correct, those are concentration camps. Where is the muslim outrage now? Where is the leftist and the liberal outrage now?

I felt sorry for these people who for no reason are being subjected to Chinese vocational gulags.

[Double Edge]

Slight correction. Not adopt the kids. Putting the kids in a secure compound with tall enough walls, with no one going in or coming out. It's very much correct, those are concentration camps. Where is the muslim outrage now? Where is the leftist and the liberal outrage now?

I felt sorry for these people who for no reason are being subjected to Chinese vocational gulags.

We've seen this picture before and the result is lost generations

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stolen...ir_descendants

The Stolen Generations (also known as Stolen Children) were the children of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent who were removed from their families by the Australian Federal and State government agencies and church missions, under acts of their respective parliaments. The removals of those referred to as "half-caste" children were conducted in the period between approximately 1905 and 1967, although in some places mixed-race children were still being taken into the 1970s.

Official government estimates are that in certain regions between one in ten and one in three indigenous Australian children were forcibly taken from their families and communities between 1910 and 1970.

The stated aim of the "resocialisation" program was to improve the integration of Aboriginal people into modern [European-Australian] society; however, a recent study conducted in Melbourne reported that there was no tangible improvement in the social position of "removed" Aboriginal people as compared to "non-removed". Particularly in the areas of employment and post-secondary education, the removed children had about the same results as those who were not removed. In the early decades of the program, post-secondary education was limited for most Australians, but the removed children lagged behind their white contemporaries as educational opportunities improved.

The study indicated that removed Aboriginal people were less likely to have completed a secondary education, three times as likely to have acquired a police record, and were twice as likely to use illicit drugs as were Aboriginal people who grew up in their ethnic community.

The only notable advantage "removed" Aboriginal people achieved was a higher average income. The report noted this was likely due to the increased urbanisation of removed individuals, and greater access to welfare payments than for Aboriginal people living in remote communities. There seemed to be little evidence that removed mixed-race Aborigines had been successful in gaining better work even in urbanised areas.

The Chinese don't even care about this, they just want to homogenise. Any one that tries to escape ends up with their whole family taken in. Anyone who communicates with a relative abroad also gets reeled in.

[Oracle]

Chinese border guards put secret surveillance app on tourists' phones

Chinese border police are secretly installing surveillance apps on the phones of visitors and downloading personal information as part of the government’s intensive scrutiny of the remote Xinjiang region, the Guardian can reveal.

The Chinese government has curbed freedoms in the province for the local Muslim population, installing facial recognition cameras on streets and in mosques and reportedly forcing residents to download software that searches their phones.

An investigation by the Guardian and international partners has found that travellers are being targeted when they attempt to enter the region from neighbouring Kyrgyzstan.

Border guards are taking their phones and secretly installing an app that extracts emails, texts and contacts, as well as information about the handset itself.

Tourists say they have not been warned by authorities in advance or told about what the software is looking for, or that their information is being taken.

The investigation, with partners including Süddeutsche Zeitung and the New York Times, has found that people using the remote Irkeshtam border crossing into the country are routinely having their phones screened by guards.

[ATTACH]47801[/ATTACH]

Edin Omanović, of the campaign group Privacy International, described the findings as “highly alarming in a country where downloading the wrong app or news article could land you in a detention camp”.

Analysis by the Guardian, academics and cybersecurity experts suggests the app, designed by a Chinese company,searches Android phones against a huge list of content that the authorities view as problematic.

This includes a variety of terms associated with Islamist extremism, including Inspire, the English-language magazine produced by al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, and various weapons operation manuals.

However, the surveillance app also searches for information on a range of other material – from fasting during Ramadan to literature by the Dalai Lama, and music by a Japanese metal band called Unholy Grave.

Another file on the list is a self-help manual by the American writer Robert Greene called The 33 Strategies of War.

About 100 million people visit the Xinjiang region every year, according to Chinese authorities. These include domestic and foreign tourists, and most enter from elsewhere in the country.

The Irkeshtam crossing is China’s most westerly border and is used by traders and tourists, some following the historic Silk Road.

There are several stages to crossing, and at one travellers are made to unlock and hand over their phones and other devices such as cameras. The devices are then taken away to a separate room and returned some time later.

The iPhones are plugged into a reader that scans them, while Android phones have the app installed to do the same job.

It seems that in most cases the app is uninstalled before the phone is returned, but some travellers have found it still on their phone.

It is unclear where all extracted information goes and for how long it is stored.

While there is no evidence that the data is used to track people later in their journeys, the information it collects would allow the authorities to locate someone if used together with details of the phone’s location.

[ATTACH]47802[/ATTACH]

It appears with the default Android icon and the words 蜂采 (Fēng cǎi); the term has no direct English translation, but relates to bees collecting honey.

The Guardian spoke to a traveller who had crossed the border to Xinjiang this year with an Android phone and was disturbed to see the app installed on his phone.

He said he had been asked to hand over his phone at the checkpoint, and it had been taken into a separate room. He and all the other travellers at that checkpoint had also been asked to hand their pin numbers to the officials, and had waited about an hour to have their phones returned.

[ATTACH]47803[/ATTACH]

At no point were they told what was being done to the phones.

He had been told by an international travel agent and by tourist information in Kyrgyzstan that something would happen with his phone at the border.

“We thought it was a GPS tracker,” he said. “[The travel company] was pretty sure we were going to have this thing put in.”

He checked his phone when it was handed back and found the app immediately.

“There was another checkpoint about two hours away and I was thinking that maybe they had downloaded things and they would have all of their analysts going through it all while we were travelling, and then maybe they [would] send people back when they got to the next place.”

The traveller said he had not been asked to hand over the phone at any other point during his visit, nor when he departed from China. He said he had not been concerned about carrying the phone with him, as there was so much overt surveillance in the region. He added: “I don’t like it. If they were doing it in my home country I would be aghast, but when you are travelling to China you know it might be like this.”

All of the installations confirmed by the Guardian and its partners were on Android phones, but travellers report that iPhones were also taken by officers.

Omanovic said: “This is yet another example of why the surveillance regime in Xinjiang is one of the most unlawful, pervasive and draconian in the world.

“Modern extraction systems take advantage of this to build a detailed but flawed picture into people’s lives. Modern apps, platforms and devices generate huge amounts of data which people likely aren’t even aware of or believe they have deleted, but which can still be found on the device.”

Maya Wang, China senior researcher at Human Rights Watch, said: “We already know that Xinjiang residents, particularly Turkic Muslims–, are subjected to round-the-clock and multidimensional surveillance in the region.

“What you have found goes beyond that. It suggests that even foreigners are subjected to such mass and unlawful surveillance.”

The use of the app came to light after travellers took their phone to reporters in Germany.

Analysis of that software by the Guardian, Süddeutsche Zeitung, Ruhr-University Bochum and the German cybersecurity firm Cure53 suggested it was designed to upload information such as emails on to a server at the border office.

The Chinese authorities were contacted for comment but there was no reply by the time of publication.

Previously the Chinese government has defended its hi-tech surveillance of citizens in Xinjiang, saying it has improved security in the region.

• The Guardian worked with Süddeutsche Zeitung, NDR, the New York Times and Motherboard (part of Vice)

[Oracle]

Xinjiang: a peaceful homeland for people of all ethnics group

Xinjiang is the nearest place of China to Pakistan. When we say that “Sino-Pakistan friendship is higher than mountains”, it refers to the Karakoram Mountains between Xinjiang and Pakistan. As the starting point for China-Pakistan Economic Corridor and the hub area of the “Belt and Road” Initiative, Xinjiang is facing unprecedented opportunities for development.

From 1978 to 2018, Xinjiang has made great improvement in people’s living standards. The GDP of Xinjiang increased from 3.9 billion yuan to 1.15 trillion yuan ($1686 billion) and the per capita GDP increased from 313 yuan to 48,000 yuan ($7000), an increase of 294 times and 153 times respectively. Tourism has become an important engine for high-quality development. Last year, the number of domestic and international tourists in Xinjiang exceeded 150 million, an increase of more than 40%.

The greatest charm of Xinjiang lies in the multi-ethnic harmony and diversity in cultures. There are 25,000 places for religious activities, including 24,400 mosques. On average, there is one mosque for every 530 Muslims. Xinjiang has a population of 25 million and hosts all 56 ethnic groups in China such as Uygur, Han, Kazakh, Hui, Kirgiz, Mongolia, Tajik, etc. The minority population accounts for 59.9% of the total population. The people of all ethnic groups hold together like pomegranate seeds, cherishing national unity as much as their own lives.

The remarkable economic and social development that Xinjiang has achieved attributed to the policy of the Chinese government in firmly cracking down on terrorism and safeguarding social stability. Since the 1990’s, terrorists, extremists and separatists inside and outside China have planned and organized thousands of violent terrorist attacks in Xinjiang, resulting in a large number of casualties of innocent people of all ethnic groups. Among these attacks are some notorious cases. On 5 July 2009, mobs smashed the city of Urumqi, causing 197 deaths and more than 1,700 injuries. At that time, Xinjiang was on the verge of being swallowed by terrorism.

By combining anti-terrorism experience of the international community with the ground situation, the Chinese government has taken a series of deradicalization measures, including establishing the vocation and education training center. Lessons on official language of China, Chinese laws, vocational training and deradicalization were offered for free, so trainees can master a skill and achieve self-reliance after the training. During the training, customs and habits of different ethnic groups and different religions are respected. After the training is completed, trainees are recommended jobs in local enterprises.

Deradicalization in Xinjiang has been proven effective with remarkable outcomes. For nearly 3 years, no violent terrorist attacks have taken place in Xinjiang. Number of criminal and public security cases also decreased sharply, and the infiltration of extremism has been effectively curbed. Today, Xinjiang is not only as beautiful as it used to be, but also much safer. It becomes a beautiful home for people of all ethnics to live and work in peace.

Despite all the development in Xinjiang, in the past few months, there have been some noises by Western media. Some attacked the training center as “prisons” or “concentration camps”, which “seriously violated human rights”. Among those who make voices, some have never been to Xinjiang, their allegation is based on rumours or imagination; some have hidden motives, who intentionally twist the truth to discredit China or provoke conflict between China and Muslim countries by linking the effort of Chinese government in maintaining social stability with “religion repression”.

For those who do not have a chance to know what is happening in Xinjinga, they are welcome to visit Xinjiang truth with their own eyes. Recently, representatives from international organizations including the UN, OIC, and government officials and media groups from Pakistan, Malaysia, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and some other countries visited Xinjiang and met face-to-face with the trainees. They witnessed how local Muslims lived and worked in peace and fully enjoy the freedom of religion. They highly appreciated the ethnic and religious policies of China, and firmly supported China’s preventive anti-terrorism and deradicalization efforts. For those who pretend to be asleep, we know that they can never be awakened. We believe that facts speak louder than words, while lies cannot hide the truth.

Pakistan has long been disturbed by terrorism. Under the joint efforts of the Pakistani government, the armed forces and the people, terrorism has been basically eliminated with tremendous sacrifices paid by the society. Social security has been effectively maintained. China and Pakistan have cooperated with each other in combating the “three forces” over the years, and jointly safeguarded the construction of the CPEC. China supports Pakistan in its efforts in carrying out the National Action Plan on Anti-terrorism. China is ready to jointly enhance counter-terrorism capacity, and beef up international cooperation with Pakistan. Working hand in hand, China and Pakistan will play a more positive role in safeguarding the security of the two brotherly countries, as well as the peace and stability in the region.

Yao jing writing for the Pakistanis in Pakistan press.

[Double Edge]

Xinjiang: a peaceful homeland for people of all ethnics group



Yao jing writing for the Pakistanis in Pakistan press.

Oh! i think i see your point now about Chinese commentators

Is this going to become the norm in the Pak press now ?!?

[Oracle]

Oh! i think i see your point now about Chinese commentators

Is this going to become the norm in the Pak press now ?!?

What was my point? I forgot. Which point?

[Double Edge]

What was my point? I forgot. Which point?

CPEC post here

Well you didn't explicitly say why you didn't like these chinese commentators so i had to guess.

That one had a bossy tone, this one is just progaganda. Live & direct from the CCP.

The intent is to create doubt whether there is a smear campaign going on by the west against China wrt uighurs.

Turks don't think so. And the Turks aren't exactly enamoured with the west right now.

[Oracle]

CPEC post here

Well you didn't explicitly say why you didn't like these chinese commentators so i had to guess.

That one had a bossy tone, this one is just progaganda. Live & direct from the CCP.

The intent is to create doubt whether there is a smear campaign going on by the west against China wrt uighurs.

Turks don't think so. And the Turks aren't exactly enamoured with the west right now.

Oh, and also the 50 centers.

Most have the idea about how the CPC has spread its tentacles in various countries. Spying, stealing, buying loyalty, glorifying China etc. I read about these all the time, but I don't post all of it. Beef should not be with the common Chinese, these are hardworking folks just like the rest of us. It's the authoritarian CPC. It would not have mattered if they were a distant country. They aren't, we share a border with them, and their bullying attitude coupled with their propaganda pisses me off.

And Turks are the least interested in what's happening to muslims in Xinjiang. They want Chinese investment/money/ally. Birds (dictators) of the same feather flock together.

[Oracle]

Children of detained Uyghurs held in mass boarding schools in Xinjiang, research claims

Hong Kong (CNN)Children of parents detained in China's vast system of "re-education camps" in the far west region of Xinjiang are being separated from their families and placed in huge, purpose-built boarding schools as part of a "coordinated state campaign" to provide "full-time or near full-time care for all children from a very young age," new research has found.

According to independent researcher Adrian Zenz and the BBC, children are being placed in "highly secured, centralized boarding facilities," whether or not they have other relatives who could serve as guardians.

Zenz, a German researcher who has emerged as one of the leading experts on China's vast system of camps targeting the Muslim Uyghur minority in Xinjiang, drew on open-source, government documents, both state and private media articles, propaganda and evidence from former detainees.

In one township where ethnic Uyghurs constitute a majority of the local population, government data show that "well over 400 minors have both parents in some form of internment, with many others having one parent interned," Zenz wrote in his report, "Break Their Roots: Evidence for China's Parent-Child Separation Campaign in Xinjiang," he added. The report was published in The Journal of Political Risk.

"Children whose parents are in prison, detention, re-education or 'training' are classified into a special needs category that is eligible for state subsidies and for receiving 'centralized care.' This 'care' can take place in public boarding schools or in special children's shelters."

But the parents have, in some cases, been detained without charge or trial, according to a 2018 report from the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination. And Zenz says that the children's other relatives are not given the chance to provide custody for the children.

A spokesperson for China's Foreign Ministry denied that children were being separated from other relatives that could serve as guardians in a statement to CNN Friday.

"I don't know if the so-called 'independent researcher' has been to Xinjiang, or he just hears something through the grapevine or even make things out of thin air," the spokesperson said.

"I want to tell you that the vocational training centers are regulated as boarding school and they protect trainees' all kinds of rights. The trainees can go home on weekends and can ask for a leave if needed, and their children can be looked after by other family members. There is no so-called 'orphan issue' (caused by vocational training centers)," the spokesperson added.

Up to 2 million people are estimated to have been detained in Xinjiang since early 2017. Activists and former detainees have described mass camps in Xinjiang where inmates live in jail-like conditions and receive repetitive lessons in Chinese propaganda.

The Chinese government says the "vocational" camps are intended to combat Islamic extremism, and state media reports there have been "no major terror attacks" in Xinjiang since the campaign began.

Most accounts have focused on the fate of adults placed in the camps, but Zenz and other researchers warn of a parallel crisis of children being separated from their parents and channeled into state care.

"Driven by multi-billion dollar budgets, tight deadlines, and sophisticated digital database systems, this unprecedented campaign has enabled Xinjiang's government to assimilate and indoctrinate children in closed environments by separating them from their parents," Zenz said. "This separation can take various forms and degrees, including full daycare during work days, entire work weeks, and longer-term full-time separation."

Open source information and statistics show that in some Uyghur-majority areas in southern Xinjiang, preschool enrollment has more than quadrupled in recent years, exceeding national growth rates by over 12 times, according to Zenz's research. The youngest child placed in an "educational institution" was just 15 months old.

Citing reports by security companies involved in procurement, Zenz said that many of the schools were highly secured buildings with surveillance systems, perimeter alarms, and "4-layered 10,000 Volt electric fences atop their high walls, totaling 26,600 meters in length, and segmented into 176 'defense zones'."

Speaking to the BBC, which commissioned part of Zenz's research, a senior official with Xinjiang's Propaganda Department denied there were many families where both parents had been detained.

"If all family members have been sent to vocational training then that family must have a severe problem," Xu Guixiang told the broadcaster. "I've never seen such a case."

On Twitter, Zenz described his findings as showing "detailed evidence for systematic, state-initiated parent-child separation, weaponized education (and) cultural genocide."

Uyghurs -- a predominantly Muslim, Turkic-speaking ethnic minority who were historically the majority in Xinjiang -- have long complained that their culture and religion were being marginalized by the authorities. For years, activists focusing on Uyghur language and culture have faced pressure and even detention, accused of spreading "extremism."

Zenz's research comes amid extra tension in Xinjiang as the region marks the 10th anniversary of ethnic unrest in the capital Urumqi, when protests over attacks on Uyghur workers in southern China turned violent following a government crackdown. In the wake of that incident, all internet access to Xinjiang was cut off for almost a year and numerous Uyghur websites were taken offline permanently.

CNN's Yong Xiong contributed to this report from Beijing.

[Oracle]

Turkish President Erdogan says solution possible for Muslims interned in Chinese camps

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said a solution could be found to help Muslims interned in Chinese camps “taking into account the sensitivities” of both sides, in comments published Thursday.

Turkey is one of the only Muslim-majority countries to have criticised China over the detention of an estimated one million ethnic Uygurs and other mostly Muslim minorities in the restive Xinjiang province.

But Erdogan struck a softer tone after meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday in Beijing.

“I believe we can find a solution to the issue taking into account the sensitivities of both sides,” Erdogan told Turkish journalists in Beijing before flying back to Turkey, according to Hurriyet daily.

Chinese state media claimed Erdogan said ethnic minorities live happily in Xinjiang, but he made no such comments to Turkish reporters.

He warned against those who sought to “abuse” the Xinjiang issue to create tensions with China, a key investor and trading partner.

“This abuse is having a negative impact on Turkish-Chinese relations. It is necessary that we do not give opportunity to such abuse,” Erdogan said.

He added that Turkey could “send a delegation to East Turkestan”, the name given by activists to Xinjiang, and that Beijing was open to the idea.

China denies holding people against their will in what it describes as “vocational education centres” aimed at steering citizens away from religious extremism.

Turkey’s foreign ministry in February lambasted China’s treatment of Uygurs as “a great embarrassment for humanity” and said those in the centres and prisons were “subjected to torture and political brainwashing”.

As expected.