Companies such as ZTE, Dahua and China Telecom are among those proposing new international standards specifications aimed at creating universally consistent technology in the UNs International Telecommunication Union for facial recognition, video monitoring, city and vehicle surveillance, The Financial Times exclusively reported after obtaining leaked documents.
Mehwish Ansari, who leads work on the issue at a digital human rights non-profit, said,There are virtually no human rights, consumer protection, or data protection experts present in ITU standards meetings so many of the technologies that threaten privacy and freedom of expression remain unchallenged in these spaces.
The report outlines how China takes advantage of nations, specifically developing nations in Africa, to spread its influence because the developing nations do not have the resources to develop surveillance and facial recognition standards on their own.
Standards ratified in the ITU, which comprises nearly 200 member states, are commonly adopted as policy by developing nations in Africa, the Middle East and Asia, where the Chinese government has agreed to supply infrastructure and surveillance tech under its Belt and Road Initiative,' The Financial Times added.
Xis vision included creating a vast network of railways, energy pipelines, highways, and streamlined border crossings, both westwardthrough the mountainous former Soviet republicsand southward, to Pakistan, India, and the rest of Southeast Asia. Such a network would expand the international use of Chinese currency, the renminbi, while new infrastructure could break the bottleneck in Asian connectivity, according to Xi.
To accommodate expanding maritime trade traffic, China would invest in port development along the Indian Ocean, from Southeast Asia all the way to East Africa.
To date, more than sixty countriesaccounting for two-thirds of the worlds populationhave signed on to projects or indicated an interest in doing so, CFR added.
Original article