Surveillance

As TikTok edges towards its deadline of 15 September to either be sold to a US buyer or banned in the US, it is ironic to think that Bytedance, its parent company, is getting bruised from all sides. Some of its harshest critics, in fact, are intensely patriotic Chinese citizens who think that it has not gone far enough in pushing back on unreasonable US demands. Can ByteDance appease the gods and the hordes before the deadline is up?

In the post-Covid-19 world, global supply chains are expected to be reconfigured as countries look to reduce their reliance on China. Enter greater room for ASEAN-China cooperation, particularly in areas related to the digital economy, such as in the development of smart cities. Associate Professor Gu Qingyang of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy (LKYSPP) sets out the arguments.

Yin Ruizhi says citizen journalism gone awry and the further erosion of privacy by governments in the name of tackling the Covid-19 pandemic are some of the risks brought about by the digital age.

Peter Chang says that as China spreads its wings across the world through digital networks and far-reaching projects under the Belt and Road Initiative, it is becoming ever more integrated with the global system. Like it or not, incumbent leaders such as the US would need to accept it into the fold, for the good of the world.

China will be implementing the social credit system in 2020. Seen as a form of mass surveillance build on big data technology, many are concerned that this will threaten human autonomy and aggravate human rights issues. Will China become the world's most sophisticated surveillance regime? Bram Barclay discusses this through the book "The age of surveillance capitalism".