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How China Is Hunting Down Coronavirus Critics (vice.com) 207

Posted by BeauHD from the silencing-dissent dept.
"As China ramps up efforts to control the narrative around the coronavirus outbreak, it is also expanding its efforts to leverage online platforms to track down people who dare to speak out," reports Vice. "From tracking down Twitter users using their mobile numbers to hacking WeChat accounts to find out someone's location, Beijing is eager to stop any negative news from being shared online -- and is will to use intimidation, arrests and threats of legal action." From the report: Joshua Left, a 28-year-old entrepreneur who runs a self-driving car startup in Wuhan, China, arrived in San Francisco in mid-January for a vacation, just as the first reports of a new "SARS-like" virus outbreak in China reached the U.S. He almost immediately began worrying about his family back in his hometown of Wuhan, where the disease appeared to originate, and where panic was starting to set in. Concerned that his family might not be getting information on the scale of the burgeoning epidemic, he posted messages on his WeChat account sharing information he was afraid were not available inside China. "But then things started to get weird," he told VICE News.

Left, who asked not to be identified by his full Chinese name, said he first received a warning message from WeChat administrators. Then he began receiving strangely specific messages that appeared to come from four of his friends on WeChat, all asking him for his location, what hotel he was staying at in San Francisco, what his room number was, and what his U.S. phone number was. Then his cell phone received a warning message that someone in Shanghai was trying to log into his account. Finally, when he wouldn't tell them where he was staying, the same accounts all simultaneously began urging him to return to China as soon as possible. Left told VICE News the he believes his friends only sent the messages after they were coerced by agents from the Ministry of State Security in an attempt to get him to reveal his location, and part of a much wider effort by the Chinese government to crack down on any dissenting voices who are sharing content related to the coronavirus outbreak. The report also mentions a separate incident where agents from the Ministry of State Security detained and interrogated a Chinese resident for criticizing the Chinese government's delayed response to the coronavirus outbreak on Twitter. After the resident refused to meet with the Ministry over the phone, the agents showed up at his front door with a screenshot of his tweet that they say "attacks the Communist Party of China."

The resident was forced to sign a "promise note" saying he would not repeat the "threat" he had made.
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How China Is Hunting Down Coronavirus Critics More

How China Is Hunting Down Coronavirus Critics

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  • Now Will apple help in this if asked?

  • So you hate the West (Score:4)

    by rmdingler ( 1955220 ) on Monday February 24, 2020 @10:14PM (#59763466) Journal
    This suppression of personal expression, though still protected in the US and Western Europe, is fraught with governmental interference in nations with dictatorial regimes. Count your blessings, you ungrateful bastards.

    • Can you clarify your point, please? I've failed to parse it. It seems that you're saying that suppression of personal expression is subject to governmental interference in countries with dictators -- as opposed to what? Leaving that suppression of personal expression to the private sector?

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by LordWabbit2 ( 2440804 )
      I'm sure Assange is counting his blessings.
      • Yes, I don't agree with what has been done to and against WikiLeaks and Assange, but the Chicoms would have simply disappeared him, while Putin's agents would have radioactive-eradicated him!

  • Makes perfect sense to me (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Pollux ( 102520 ) <speter@[ ]ata.net.eg ['ted' in gap]> on Monday February 24, 2020 @10:53PM (#59763536) Journal

    How did Big China become so powerful? Simple...an authoritarian state took control of its people and engineered it into the production powerhouse we see today. China took a billion people and commanded them to work hard for little pay, accept the challenges of life, and appreciate what little they have, because if they don't, China can take it all away.

    But Big China has to control those billion people, because a billion people can turn on China with the snap of a finger. It was only 70 years ago when the people last revolted, and they can do it again. (And there's that pesky neighbor to the east with the remaining revolutionaries just waiting for their chance to strike!) So China has to keep the people in order, as well as keep the cash flowing.

    Now tens of thousands are sick, thousands are dying, and the world economy is suffering, because everything is made in China. Which means the cash slows down. And when the people stop getting a paycheck and hear rumors about a new plague in town, they may not exactly think straight. All it takes is a small spark to ignite that wildfire.

    So of course Big China's gotta keep the plebs in line before things spiral out of control. What did you expect would happen?

  • If the Chinese government spent as much effort in finding a cure as they did hunting down their critics, this problem would already have been solved.

    • Re:someone is missing the point (Score:5, Insightful)

      by ShanghaiBill ( 739463 ) on Monday February 24, 2020 @11:10PM (#59763574)

      If the Chinese government spent as much effort in finding a cure as they did hunting down their critics, this problem would already have been solved.

      Unlikely, since the two activities require very different skill sets. The "wu mao" censors wouldn't be much help in a lab.

      • Then perhaps they should have devoted more resources to training biochemists than stukachi or political officers.

      • The "wu mao" censors wouldn't be much help in a lab.

        True... but their paychecks sure would help that lab. Isn't the modern economy fun? Where you spend your money shows what you value.

    • If the Chinese government spent as much effort in finding a cure as they did hunting down their critics, this problem would already have been solved.

      An attempt of self-evident conclusion is only that.
      Careerism, covering asses, conflicting priorities...failures to usefully and successfully collaborate...plague any and all governments because all governments simultaneously regulate and protect their citizenry, day by day and across generations. Blithely according blame with an argument of proportion to explain away an extraordinary crisis is, however convenient, entirely shallow and a priviledged vantage.

    • somehow I suspect their is about 0.00000 overlap between people that hunt down others and those that do research hunting a cure. But hey maybe many of those security agents really are closet scientists.
  • Your organs are needed here.

  • China is not an ally (Score:5, Insightful)

    by srichard25 ( 221590 ) on Monday February 24, 2020 @11:20PM (#59763594)

    I don't understand why we continue to treat China like an ally. They are a communist country that steals our IP, wages war on American companies, and treats their own citizens like dirt. Now it seems that they failed to contain a dangerous virus that will cause thousands of deaths in other countries. China is far more dangerous than the USSR was during the Cold War. American companies need to get out of China and we need to severely reduce what we buy from them.

    • You have to do something to keep China from melting down, because the likely result of failure of their system is invasion of other countries. The policy of trying to pacify them by doing business is the result of corporatists being in charge, and being able to make a profit doing so. Unfortunately the end game is going to be a stronger China when they finally do start invading their neighbors.

      • Re:China is not an ally (Score:4, Funny)

        by buravirgil ( 137856 ) <buravirgil@gmail.com> on Tuesday February 25, 2020 @12:35AM (#59763730)

        You have to do something to keep China from melting down, because the likely result of failure of their system is invasion of other countries. The policy of trying to pacify them by doing business is the result of corporatists being in charge, and being able to make a profit doing so. Unfortunately the end game is going to be a stronger China when they finally do start invading their neighbors.

        I'm guessing you've played a lot of Risk and aren't a Cranberries fan.

      • Who are they going to invade? Vietnam? They lost last time they tried it.

    • They are a communist country that steals our IP, wages war on American companies, and treats their own citizens like dirt.

      Ray Kroc, the businessman who franchized McDonald's was asked what he would do for a drowing competitor: If any of my competitors were drowning, I'd stick a hose in their mouth and turn on the water. It is ridiculous to call this an industry. This is not. This is rat eat rat, dog eat dog. I'll kill 'em, and I'm going to kill 'em before they kill me. You're talking about the American way - of survival of the fittest.

    • Shut the border at least. Build it somewhere else.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by zmooc ( 33175 )

      If China is a communist country then i presume North-Korea is a Democracy? :PppPPp

      The rest of what you say makes sense, though.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by J-1000 ( 869558 )

      I don't understand why we continue to treat China like an ally. They are a communist country that steals our IP, wages war on American companies, and treats their own citizens like dirt. Now it seems that they failed to contain a dangerous virus that will cause thousands of deaths in other countries. China is far more dangerous than the USSR was during the Cold War. American companies need to get out of China and we need to severely reduce what we buy from them.

      Keep your friends close, and your enemies clos

    • Mutual dependence. American consumers demand their cheap goods, and American industry demands cheap manufacturing facilities - but America can't provide those any more, and nor can Europe. Not while maintaining high standards of environmental protection, worker's rights, and a high median wage. China can. It's been a relationship both benefitted from: China got access to advanced technology, education, and the massive capital investment it needed to modernize infrastructure. America got low-cost manufacturi

  • Fake News! (NYC Billionaire) (Score:5, Informative)

    by Venona2018 ( 5425598 ) on Tuesday February 25, 2020 @12:49AM (#59763756)
    This is fake news! According to one of the people running for President of the USA:
    • The Chinese Communist Party listens to the Chinese public.
    • Xi Jinping is not a dictator.
    • No government (including China) can survive without the will of its people.
    • The Chinese government is no less impacted by what their constituents — i.e. citizens, voters — want than anyplace else

    Source: here [mediaite.com]

  • Coronavirus critic (Score:5, Funny)

    by sjames ( 1099 ) on Tuesday February 25, 2020 @01:54AM (#59763872) Homepage Journal

    Miserable experience, would not contract again. 0/5 stars.

  • Don't forget China has agents in the US (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Don't forget that China has thousands of agents operating in the United States and can "reach" Chinese citizens here with relative ease.

    Last year, one former Chinese co-worker of mine was "picked up for lunch" by "friends" from the Chinese state, and we never saw him again. We still have his wallet, though we handed over his car keys when the bank came to repossess his vehicle. His house similarly remained untouched (we occasionally checked) until similarly the bank repossessed it and had it cleaned out.

    Thi

  • Um, yeah (Score:2, Informative)

    by cascadingstylesheet ( 140919 )

    It's a communist dictatorship. Has been for many decades now. It's what they do. There is absolutely zero surprise in this.

    In communist theory, the Party stands in for the people, it represents their supposed true interests. The people can't be allowed to freely talk and vote and make decisions and such, because when you do that the people get duped by the rich capitalist pig dog elitists.

    It's how these communist countries can call themselves "the democratic republic of whatever" with a straight face; se

    • but it's annoying to see the theory misrepresented so. The party doesn't stand in for the people, the party _is_ the people. Communism, at least in theory, requires strong Democracy

      We can debate whether that is possible or not, but if we're talking the ideal as laid out by communist theory then no, China is not Communist. Again, maybe it's not possible for _any_ country to reach the Communist ideal (i.e. the theory might be fundamentally flawed due to human nature), but that has nothing to do with China.
    • Comment removed based on user account deletion

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