AsiaWatch - 15 Sep 2020
India's Congress Reacts to China's Global Database for Hybrid Warfare; Singapore's COVID-19 retrenchment numbers exceed SARS peak
Video credit: The Indian Express
Good morning.
The big story today: an investigative piece by the Indian Express uncovered a Chinese firm’s effort to track and mine public data on over 2.4 million individuals, many of whom were political leaders, scientists, journalists, and persons of influence. The firm was known to be linked to the Chinese Communist Party, and indicated it focus areas on “threat intelligence” and “hybrid warfare”. The discovery prompted India’s congress to inquire if Modi’s government was aware of the surveillance, which probed into as many as 10,000 individuals in India, which included extended information on the family trees of persons of interest. Other highlights in this edition: Singapore’s retrenchment figures and Lao’s China debt problem.
Today in AsiaWatch (5 min read)
The Ministry said the rise in retrenchments over the quarter was widespread, but more were found in outward-oriented sectors like wholesale trade, manufacturing - mostly transport equipment producers - and financial services.
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A major international media investigation has revealed that a technology firm, Zhenhua Data Information Technology — which is linked to the Chinese Communist Party — has created and mined a global database of 2.4 million individuals – many of them political leaders, scientists, journalists and others in positions of influence – based on their online presence in order to monitor them and their networks.
Express Investigation: Was Modi govt aware of Chinese surveillance, asks Congress
Taking note of the Indian Express investigation, the Congress on Monday sought to know if the Narendra Modi-led government was aware of the Chinese surveillance on over 10,000 Indians and demanded that a clear message be sent to Beijing to bring them in line.
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