Evergrande's petitions and victims in Beijing’s facial recognition database
An "incident” involving a journalist covering the "Two Sessions" in Beijing shows the extent to which digital controls are used to silence dissatisfaction due to the real estate market crash.
Beijing (AsiaNews) – Chinese authorities have put in place the most advanced security measures to protect the work of the "Two Sessions" – the joint gatherings of 5,000 delegates to the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and the National People's Congress – underway this week in Beijing.
When reaching Tiananmen Square to enter the Great Hall of the People, accredited journalists must also pass through facial recognition machines to be allowed into the venues where the Two Sessions are underway.
A reporter from Ming Pao, a Hong Kong-based Chinese-language newspaper, had an unpleasant "incident" that confirmed how much security protocols are used to repress opinions even on social issues in Xi Jinping's China.
As she noted in her newspaper, despite her accreditation card, she was stopped by the police after setting off the alarm of a facial recognition machine.
With a grave face, a police officer told the reporter to show her ID, then asked her: "Have you ever bought Evergrande shares?" The China Evergrande Group was a Chinese property developer whose collapse left thousands of investors penniless.
Faced with a no, the agent asked the journalist a second question: “Have you ever petitioned at the Letters and Visits Bureau?” Again, the journalist’s answer was negative.
At that point, the journalist’s ID papers were checked and the agent was able to determine that there was nothing untoward in her "dossier". At that point, his tone softened.
When she asked what was wrong, he told her that her face was similar to that of a person in the database and that facial recognition machine had identified the wrong person.
“After the misunderstanding was resolved, the reporter was able to leave, and only then did she regret going out without makeup,” notes, somewhat ironically, the article in Ming Pao.
“The incident also directly confirms that some petitioners' information, including facial data, was entered into the public security database, and Evergrande-related petitioning activities were also the focus of the authorities' efforts to maintain stability.”
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