Category: Uncategorized

The US doesn’t trust Chinese technology firms. So now China is doing their standard tit-for-tat. Tesla (who until recently were the #1 electric car sellers in China), are now facing a ban on their cars being near military installations, because they are techy cars with cameras.

This type of ban could be endlessly spread into other rules, like a tightening noose around a major US buisness.

Given that so many more products in the future will have cameras, online connectivity and secret software, this could be a major aspect of worsening East/West relations

With the novel coronavirus we are seeing an unprecedented isolation of one country to stop the spread of disease. While technically it is not too different to the flu, the newness and potential to evolve are very worrisome.

Even if this disease is contained outside of China, it is looking like it will not be snuffed out within their borders. In theory, China could and the world might have a very difficult decision to make – open the borders and cause more infection and deaths (even though they are small numbers in the greater scheme of things), versus the benefits of tourism and free trade.

Even if the disease is contained within China, the template is now in place. Any new virus will be reacted to swifter and harsher. At least China has the infrastructure and practice in place to perhaps nullify it. However the other similar cases have emerged from the “East” side of Africa, and they would not respond as quickly nor do they (I’m generalising) have a population that is so trained to do as they are told.

It is totally possible that Great Split starts with disease, and then everything else just becomes to difficult. After all, current splitting comes from fear regarding economies, security and territory. And fear of dropping dead from a mystery illness trumps those.

The political magazine, lead article October 2019, on possible end results of the China/USA rivalry:

Or we might see a mutually agreed separation, wary but not always antagonistic, involving a managed decoupling of the two economies [USA and China] and a return to national technological walled gardens

The Sky Net programme, now renamed Pingan Chengshi, or Safe Cities, claimed to have connected 170 million cameras across China last year. By 2020, another 400 million units will be installed.

…The trade war will lead to a tech war which is a data war which leads to competing forms of artificial intelligence.
Source: Medium

More data. More funding. Bigger datasets. China is winning the facial recognition game. Allegedly the NYPD are using Chinese systems for this.

While physical products from China like 5G can be blacklisted by the US, it is very hard to keep software out. And software is perhaps easier to use for espionage than hardware.

This particular product could lead to new US regulations regarding the source of software, or perhaps the ability of software to reach non-USA servers.

China Daily: If you catch someone engaging in activities that suggest they can afford to pay their debts, you can tell on them with this WeChat app…

Called “a map of deadbeat debtors”, the program allows users to find out whether there are any debtors within 500 meters.

The debtor’s information is available to check in the program, making it easier for people to whistle-blow on debtors capable of paying their debts.

China will do anything to get their hands on the knowledge required to replicate the aircraft of the US (or Russian) military.

Here are 7 examples where the layman can tell they are copies, and there are cases like the imprisonment of Chinese national Su Bin for stealing plans from Lockheed Martin:

https://www.popularmechanics.com/military/aviation/g23303922/china-copycat-air-force/

Poland could consider banning the use of Huawei products by public bodies, a senior government official said on Sunday, following the arrest of a Chinese Huawei official in the east European country last week.

The Polish government could also look to tighten legislation to allow the authorities to limit the availability of products made by any company deemed to pose a threat to security.

Poland arrested a Chinese employee of Huawei and a former Polish security official on spying allegations, officials and sources told Reuters on Friday, a move that could fuel Western security concerns about the telecoms equipment maker.

https://www.itnews.com.au/news/poland-could-ban-huawei-products-after-employee-arrest-517822

First in 2015 and then again in June 2017, the party declared that all Chinese companies must collaborate in gathering intelligence.

“All organizations and citizens,” reads Article 7 of China’s National Intelligence Law, “must support, assist with, and collaborate in national intelligence work, and guard the national intelligence work secrets they are privy to.”

All Chinese companies, whether they are private or owned by the state, are now part and parcel of the party’s massive overseas espionage campaign.

https://nypost.com/2018/12/22/how-arrest-of-chinese-princess-exposes-regimes-world-domination-plot

The news of China taking over Sri Lanka’s strategic port and 15 000 hectares of land on a 99-year lease have caused the Chinese embassy in Zimbabwe to deny that assets are used as collateral for loans:

“In the case of Zimbabwe, there is no mortgage of resources for now between China and Zimbabwe, and we never force any conditions on any country. We are equal, we are brothers and sisters,” he said.

Although the details of such loans are secret, he is probably technically correct. Here’s how China’s takeover of Africa seems to be playing out:

• Find a country notorious for failed debt due to corruption
• Provide infrastructure loans
• Wait for the debt to become unpayable
• Help the current leader stay in power
• In return for giving up the asset as partial debt repayment

You don’t have to have a mortgage over an asset to negotiate the sale of it to pay off said debt.

Eleven Chinese schools have begun enforcing “smart uniforms” with computer chips embedded to monitor student movements and prevent them from skipping classes.

Whenever a student enters their school, the time and date is recorded, and also with a short video is recorded. Facial recognition is used to prevent students from cheating the system, by wearing somebody else’s uniform.

Skipping classes, even while still at school, will trigger an alarm to inform teachers and parents, while a voice alarm is activated if a student walks out of school without permission.

A GPS system tracks student movements even beyond the school grounds.

Full story https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-12-28/microchipped-school-uniforms-monitor-students-in-china/10671604