China: Social Credit System

“China’s state-run newspaper Global Times revealed in a column defending the nation’s authoritarian ‘social credit system’ Monday that the communist regime had blacklisted 13.49 million Chinese citizens for being ‘untrustworthy.’ The article did not specify what these individuals did to find themselves on the list, though the regime has revealed the system assigns a numerical score to every Chinese citizen based on how much the Communist Party approves of his or her behavior. Anything from jaywalking and walking a dog without a leash to criticizing the government on the internet to more serious, violent, and corrupt crimes can hurt a person’s score. The consequences of a low credit score vary, but most commonly appear to be travel restrictions at the moment. China is set to complete the implementation of the system in the country in 2020. As the date approaches, the government’s propaganda arms have escalated its promotion as necessary to live in a civilized society. ‘As of March, 13.49 million individuals have been classified as untrustworthy and rejected access to 20.47 million plane tickets and 5.71 million high-speed train tickets for being dishonest,’ the Global Times reported, citing the government’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC). Among the new examples the newspaper highlights as dishonest behavior are failing to pay municipal parking fees, ‘eating on the train,’ and changing jobs with ‘malicious intent.’ In addition to limited access to travel, another punishment the Chinese government rolled out in March was the use of an embarrassing ringtone to alert individuals of a low-credit person in their midst. The ringtone would tell those around a person with low credit to be ‘careful in their business dealings’ with them. In the system, all public behavior, the Global Times explained Monday, will be divided into ‘administrative affairs, commercial activities, social behavior, and the judicial system’ once the system is complete. No action will be too small to impact the score. Using the nominally private corporation ZTE, China sold a version of its credit system to socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela. The system would reportedly work through the already established ‘Fatherland Card, a ration card used to distribute food and medicine to Maduro’s supporters. Anyone who indicated opposition to the regime put their food supply at risk. With ZTE technology, the ‘Fatherland Card’ can track the purchases and real-time locations of any Venezuelan.”

“China: Social Credit System,” Breitbart, May 14, 2019

---