Chinese citizens can now get rewards of more than $15,000 for tip-offs on national security breaches. While China has offered rewards for those who report foreign spies or security threats in the past, this development would normalize the rewarding process.
“The formulation of the measures is conducive to fully mobilizing the enthusiasm of the general public to support and assist in national security work, widely rallying the hearts, morale, wisdom, and strength of the people,” a Ministry of State Security spokesperson told state media outlet Legal Daily, according to Reuters.
WATCH: BYRON DONALDS ENGAGES WITH HAMAS SUPPORTERS
Citizens can get either “spiritual rewards” in the form of certificates or “material rewards” in payments between 10,000 yuan and 100,000 yuan, based on the value of the tip-off. The information would be confirmed before the reward was determined. These reports can be given through a hotline, a website, or in person.
THE UNSEEN VICTIMS OF WAR: HOW RUSSIA'S INVASION LEFT THOUSANDS OF DISABLED UKRAINIANS IN PERIL
The spokesperson did not explain the process of the certificates beyond being a reward.
The new rewards appear as the Chinese government has grown more defensive against external inputs. For instance, there has been increasing pressure regarding events remembering Tiananmen Square. Several memorials to the 1989 killings have had to relocate to Taiwan because the Chinese government banned memorial events in Hong Kong.
WATCH MAYOR ADAMS: "YOU DON'T TAKE OVER OUR BUILDINGS AND PUT ANOTHER FLAG UP"
China is already accused of using Orwellian levels of surveillance against its own citizens. Under its “social credit” system, people can be blacklisted for transgressions such as smoking on trains, using expired tickets or failing to pay fines, as well as spreading false information or causing trouble on flights.
WATCH: DOJ SET TO INDICT TEXAS DEMOCRAT REP.HENRY CUELLER, WHAT'S AT STAKE, YOU ASK?
China has also grown defensive regarding the United States’s efforts to defend Taiwan. Matters involving China and Taiwan are a “purely internal affair for China,” according to Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin. “On issues touching on China’s core interests of the sovereignty and territorial integrity, China has no room for compromise or concession.”
Citizens with high credit scores can access better hotels, rental homes, and even schools; while those with low credit scores can be temporarily or permanently banned from taking planes or trains, as happened to 6.15 million people in 2017, on the government’s own figures.
The big-data system for monitoring and shaping business and citizens’ behavior is also reaching beyond China’s borders to affect foreign companies, according to research by the ASPI International Cyber Policy Institute in Canberra. It claims the system has shaped the behavior of foreign businesses in line with Chinese Communist party preferences, showing its potential to interfere directly in the sovereignty of other nations.
Discover alternative ideas that will make you think
Engage in mind bending debate
Earn points, rise in rank, have fun
