Linn Maung
China began its “Two Sessions” meetings in Beijing last week. That’s an annual meeting of the National People’s Congress and the CPPCC, which is an advisory body. So what do these “Two Sessions” meetings actually do? According to Chinese state-run media, it offers a window for the International Community to understand China.
A window into China’s democracy. For example, “By observing the ‘Two Sessions,’ the International Community can deepen its understanding of China’s democracy.” Also, “one can understand how Chinese democracy operates effectively” because it’s “a vivid practice of China’s whole-process people’s democracy” that “solidly advances whole-process people’s democracy”,and “China’s whole-process people’s democracy not only has a complete set of institutions and procedures but also is full of participation and practices”, so one can misunderstand that China is definitely a democracy.
A “whole-process people’s democracy.” Ahead of these meetings, their whole process locks down people who have dissenting views. But not all the dissidents are put under house arrest. Some got to “go on ‘vacations’ with police.” The worst type of vacation is the kind that needs quotation marks. Also at the Two Sessions, China set its economic growth target for 2024 to “around 5 percent”. And one can easily assume that will be what they officially report at the end of the year.
Of course, the world does not actually trust China’s growth data. “How does China grow 5% despite so many headwinds, from collapsing property investment to declining population? Very likely, it doesn’t” even if they had a magic lamp. China probably didn’t grow as much as reported last year, either. Lots of weird anomalies in the official data are making it more and more obvious that the CCP is fudging the numbers.
Goldman Sachs, is literally saying, don’t invest in China! Here’s what their Wealth Management CIO told Bloomberg Television: “All our clients are asking us that question: Given how cheap China appears, people inevitably say, well, has it discounted the worst news? And our view is that one should not invest in China.” She says that’s because China’s main drivers of economic growth are property, infrastructure, and exports and all of them are declining. She also thinks China’s economy will continue to decline for the next decade.
The more important point is how foreign companies in China are facing growing scrutiny and political pressure including arbitrary “national security” crackdowns. Or how there’s large-scale forced labor and Human Rights abuses in Xinjiang. Or, more concerning is China’s aggressive military behaviour that’s on the verge of escalating into armed international conflict. But still, good enough. As long as investors listen to Goldman Sachs and don’t invest in China, then China will head towards its downfall at a faster pace.
Moreover, China’s products are a security threat to the user country, as an example if someone buys an electric smart video doorbell from China, it has embedded chips inside it, a consumer reports investigation has found that many of these video doorbells have terrible security hazard. But Amazon is selling them anyway because Amazon would literally sell any product that would earn them money. Like other Chinese products, the doorbells are cheap. This one from some random brand called FISHBOT is only $33.98! Surely, there’s no terrible hidden downside!
Well, Consumer Reports bought two of these low-cost Chinese doorbells and they discovered that their security vulnerabilities “could allow a dangerous person to take control of the video doorbell on their target’s home, watching when they and their family members come and go.” For example, a stalker could just walk up to the doorbell and pair it with Smartphone, without any kind of password or authentication. Some of these doorbells are illegal to sell in the United States, because they don’t meet FCC requirements, and yet, they’re sold online and delivered by Amazon, as well as Wal-Mart, Sears, and Temu. What’s worse, some of these horrible doorbells “have often carried badges saying ‘Amazon’s Choice: Overall Pick.’”
That label might make you think that humans working at Amazon have checked the product. According to their FAQ, Amazon’s choice is based on an algorithm that looks at “ratings, price, popularity, product availability and fast delivery”. So if you’re looking for a smart device, don’t get carried away. Stay away from things made in China. Because this calendar is somehow far from the crappiest item sold on Amazon. Speaking of hacking, a treasure trove of leaked files has exposed the secret world of China’s “hackers for hire”.
A couple of weeks ago, an online user began anonymously posting a massive cache of documents from the Chinese cyber security vendor I-Soon. It’s called Ānxún in Mandarin. I-Soon had a range of software products that can target major websites in China and abroad, as well as iPhones and other personal devices. I-Soon even said it had built technology that could target accounts on X—that is, Twitter—and “could pull email addresses, phone numbers and other identifiable information related to user accounts and, in some cases, help hack those accounts.”
They made a social media site a place no one should go to amid security concerns, in other words, TikTok. It’s not like that some isolated, private enterprise is hacking on its own. “I-Soon was working for a range of Chinese government entities that sponsor hacking, including the Ministry of State Security, the People’s Liberation Army and China’s national police.”
It’s almost certain that there are a lot of other Chinese state-sponsored hacking companies out there that no one has heard of. And that’s exactly why one needs to take extra steps to protect the private information online. There are already tons of companies that collect common person’s personal data, often without their knowledge.
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