Threat of China

By Douglas V.  Gibbs
Author, Speaker, Instructor, Radio Host

While the mainstream media has always tried to convince us that the Chinese are the good communists, the reality is, there is no good communism.  China has been reminding us of that, and is rising to become an enemy that it is getting harder and harder for the their allies among the liberal left progressives to hide.

A friend of mine, a woman who left Communist China twenty years ago, says that the greatest danger in the world is China.  Another tells me that the communists are becoming desperate because a desire for Western culture is slowly moving through the Chinese population.  The leadership is concerned.  Opposition to communism may be on the horizon.

Therefore, China is taking no chances.

They have switched on their Social Credit System, something that uses a sprawling, technological mass surveillance network that is designed to the likes of which the world has never seen. The plan is to have it in full swing by 2020.  The surveillance system is designed to control and coerce the the citizenry.  It is a gigantic social engineering experiment that some have called the "gamification of trust".

How much Science Fiction did you read when you were younger?  I read a lot of it, and my favorite books are the ones about a dystopian future where the last remnants of liberty must find a way to overcome a massive tyranny.  The Chinese project comes right out of those books, except the nightmare is more massive and intricate than anything any sci-fi writer could create in my hall of books.

The system assigns an individual a trust score.  Each and every citizen gets one.  Businesses too.  Your trust score can go up, and down, and the higher your trustworthiness, the more you will be allowed to roam free.  But, you know how trust can be.  Trust can be easy to lose, and difficult to earn.

Lose points on your trust score, and the tightness of the iron fist grips tighter.

The System uses China's technological infrastructure of about 200 million CCTV cameras.

Never mind big-brother.  China's communists will be something worse.  They know they have to crack down, so their ever-watchful eyes will use facial recognition systems, and cross-checks with financial, medical records, and legal records.

The Chinese are ready to make sure that there is no revolution in that country calling for liberty.

Society will be managed, and controlled through an algorithmic governance that would make Silicon Valley blush.

Points will be awarded for being a good communist citizen, such as paying bills on time, engaging in charity, and properly sorting your recycling.  Better scores result in positive reinforcement.  You know, like training a dog.  Do as the master wants and gain access to perks, like better credit facilities, cheaper public transport, and even shorter wait times for hospital services.

Be a good citizen, and get your little treat.

Negative reinforcement, however, will also be used.  Break the rules, like paying your bills late, committing infractions like jaywalking or smoking in non-smoking areas, and you will be punished by the communist state.

Technology.  Techno-tyranny.  Australian newscast outlets describes it as a "digital dictatorship". 

Lose trust points, and the guilty citizen will incur financial penalties and even travel restrictions.  Investigative journalist Liu Hu learned the hard way.  He says the social credit system destroyed his career after he was blacklisted for making accusations of government corruption.

Branded "dishonest", he had access to rail travel suspended, and his social media accounts – comprising some 2 million followers – were reportedly shut down, effectively making his job impossible.

Remember the movie "The Net"?

This is worse.

And the Chinese people are simply going along with the tyranny.  They know no different, except what little they've tasted of liberty through illegal news from The West.

"Their eyes are blinded and their ears are blocked. They know little about the world and live in an illusion."

Individuals aren't the only ones subject to this iron fist'd communist tyranny.  Companies in China are also being graded, even those from other countries.  Some are already feeling the coercive aspects of the controversial system, which some fear could "interfere directly in the sovereignty of other nations".

Another danger to Chinese communist control is the emerging church.  While communism is atheistic, Christianity does exist in the country.  China's only goal has been to make sure they pledge their loyalty to The Communist Party.

Recently, the Chinese government did exactly that.

China's Catholic Church has reaffirmed its loyalty to the country's ruling Communist Party, while also welcoming a landmark deal struck with the Vatican on appointing new bishops.

The Vatican signed an agreement giving it a long-desired and decisive say in the appointment of bishops in China, which originally had been out of the Vatican's hands.  China's around 12 million Catholics have been split between an underground Church swearing loyalty to the Vatican and the state-supervised Catholic Patriotic Association.

The Catholic Church in China said it would "persevere to walk a path suited to a socialist society, under the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party."

What the agreement did was open the opportunity for the underground Catholics to reveal who they are, just as the communists have planned.

Christian extinction in China may be soon to follow.

-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary