China's New Surveillance System Makes Secret Reporting Difficult for Foreign Journalists

Central News Agency, Taipei, May 25. With technological advancements, China has moved beyond traditional plainclothes police tracking, integrating massive surveillance networks with mobile payments, ticketing, and social media data. Foreign journalists now trigger alerts upon entering specific areas, making secret investigations nearly impossible. According to Deutsche Welle (DW), a cybersecurity researcher named "NetAskari" discovered an unencrypted Chinese management backend containing detailed personal information of foreign journalists in Beijing. This is part of the "holographic profiles" monitoring system, with a demonstration version built by the Zhangjiakou Public Security Bureau for the 2022 Winter Olympics. The system links surveillance networks nationwide via the "Sharp Eyes" project, integrating physical movements and digital footprints. Citizens from Five Eyes nations are under particularly strict surveillance. The system can even map interpersonal relationships based on interactions, posing an existential threat to independent media.