US talk show host Stephen Colbert on May 7 satirized China’s social credit rating system on CBS’ The Late Show, saying, among other things, that what China really needs to “purify” is not its society, but its air.
The show has drawn attention to China’s social credit system, which brings together credit records, digital surveillance and big data to give people dynamic ratings for everything they do.
The Chinese government said the system can “purify society,” and establish stronger awareness about credit and trustworthiness, which would be a new development in Chinese society.
The system is scheduled to be fully implemented in 2020, and when that happens, every Chinese individual and company, and even every government department, would be subject to credit ratings.
It would also involve “incentives for promise-keeping” and “punishments for trust-breaking” that are meant to achieve a situation where “if trust is broken in one place, restrictions are imposed everywhere,” as called for by Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平).
The items rated under the system include all kinds of activities, including records about matters ranging from infringing traffic regulations or offending public morality to spending too much time playing computer games or criticizing the government.
Following test runs of the system last month, about 10 million Chinese have already been blacklisted as “trust-breakers.” This results in them being subjected to various degrees of punishment and restrictions with regard to such things as employment, accommodation, loans, freedom of movement, extravagant consumption, social security and political rights.
Penalties could also be extended to the next generation by preventing blacklisted people’s children from going to school and finding employment.
Anyone living in a true democracy, such as Taiwan, can see how these systematic limitations violate basic human rights.
The system could be further adjusted to produce ratings about “patriotism” and quantify Chinese’s political leanings. That would encourage people to report on one another, thus creating living conditions in which people cannot trust one another.
An important point to consider is that Chinese surveillance technology has long since penetrated Taiwan. Many Chinese consumer electronics brands, such as mobile phones and apps, have gained a certain market share in Taiwan. The problem is that many of these products have been identified by information security testing agencies in various nations as posing threats to information security.
In the past few years, even companies such as Facebook and Google have conceded to Chinese government demands to allow the examination of their content. This combination of big-country government and tech giants generates a web of surveillance technology far beyond anything George Orwell imagined in his novel Nineteen Eighty-Four.
However, the Taiwanese government is not sufficiently alert to this problem. Aside from a number of agencies, such as the Ministry of National Defense and the National Security Bureau, which restrict the use of Chinese information and communications products, private organizations and the general public hardly take any precautions.
The government should actively intervene and manage this problem at the source and it should inform the public about the risk of Chinese digital technology invading Taiwan.
Taiwanese need to heighten their vigilance and bolster the nation’s defensive capabilities with regard to information and national security.
Chen Kuan-fu is a graduate student in National Taipei University’s Department of Law.
Translated by Julian Clegg
With escalating US-China competition and mutual distrust, the trend of supply chain “friend shoring” in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and the fragmentation of the world into rival geopolitical blocs, many analysts and policymakers worry the world is retreating into a new cold war — a world of trade bifurcation, protectionism and deglobalization. The world is in a new cold war, said Robin Niblett, former director of the London-based think tank Chatham House. Niblett said he sees the US and China slowly reaching a modus vivendi, but it might take time. The two great powers appear to be “reversing carefully
As China steps up a campaign to diplomatically isolate and squeeze Taiwan, it has become more imperative than ever that Taipei play a greater role internationally with the support of the democratic world. To help safeguard its autonomous status, Taiwan needs to go beyond bolstering its defenses with weapons like anti-ship and anti-aircraft missiles. With the help of its international backers, it must also expand its diplomatic footprint globally. But are Taiwan’s foreign friends willing to translate their rhetoric into action by helping Taipei carve out more international space for itself? Beating back China’s effort to turn Taiwan into an international pariah
Typhoon Krathon made landfall in southwestern Taiwan last week, bringing strong winds, heavy rain and flooding, cutting power to more than 170,000 homes and water supply to more than 400,000 homes, and leading to more than 600 injuries and four deaths. Due to the typhoon, schools and offices across the nation were ordered to close for two to four days, stirring up familiar controversies over whether local governments’ decisions to call typhoon days were appropriate. The typhoon’s center made landfall in Kaohsiung’s Siaogang District (小港) at noon on Thursday, but it weakened into a tropical depression early on Friday, and its structure
Since the end of the Cold War, the US-China espionage battle has arguably become the largest on Earth. Spying on China is vital for the US, as China’s growing military and technological capabilities pose direct challenges to its interests, especially in defending Taiwan and maintaining security in the Indo-Pacific. Intelligence gathering helps the US counter Chinese aggression, stay ahead of threats and safeguard not only its own security, but also the stability of global trade routes. Unchecked Chinese expansion could destabilize the region and have far-reaching global consequences. In recent years, spying on China has become increasingly difficult for the US
RSS