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Guangdong in southern China is the country's wealthiest province, accounting for more than 30 percent of the country's entire volume of export. This is the "factory of the world", producing 47 percent of the color TVs, 45 percent of the air conditioners, and 57 percent of all the fax machines around the globe. All this has contributed to its role as the driving force behind China's economic development, a role it has played for some 30 years.
But the 90 million residents of Guangdong are gripped with anxiety over a penetrating campaign of electronic surveillance that is reminiscent of George Orwell's dystopian novel "1984." In the city of Guangzhou, some 90,000 surveillance cameras have been installed and are operating on downtown streets, shopping malls and hotels. City officials are feverishly working to install 160,000 more cameras by the end of this year with a budget of 3 billion yuan (about W360 billion [US$1=W938]).
Some 200,000 cameras are already operating in Shenzhen, China's first special economic zone, and the city plans to install 20,000 more. Dongguan and Zhuhai also plan to put up 100,000 cameras each. If these plans are carried out, there will be about one million all-weather surveillance cameras constantly videotaping Guangdong Province by the end of this year, according to the latest issue of the Hong Kong weekly Yazhou Zhoukan. That would make the province one of the world's most monitored regions, with one camera to spy on every 90 people. Chinese authorities are also planning to link the public cameras with surveillance networks in corporations and government agencies in a bid to create a comprehensive "public security information network."
In addition, authorities are making haste with a plan to issue next-generation personal electronic ID cards much like radio frequency identification (RFID) tags that would carry delicate personal information such as criminal records, credit card details and subway use logs. "The idea is to prevent crime and guarantee residents a safe living environment," Chinese authorities say.
Meanwhile politically sensitive words are banned in web searches and email exchanges, and the press is heavily gagged. In this context, critics point out, the move to install a blanket surveillance system seems designed only to further suppress people's private actions.
China is set to become the world's third largest economy by GDP this year, overtaking Germany. Chinese authorities seem to believe that as long as the public's stomach is full, personal freedoms are unimportant.
This column was contributed by Song Eui-dal, the Chosun Ilbo's correspondent in Hong Kong.
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