UPSOUND (Mandarin) Yang Li, petitioner: “Are you guys police? You, you – Why are you grabbing her? Why are you grabbing her? I’m Yang Li, from Jintan, Changzhou, in Jiangsu province. I am going to visit doctors in Beijing with my father.”

THIS IS YANG LI. SHE’S TRYING TO MAKE HER WAY TO THE CHINESE CAPITAL. THE MEN SHE’S FILMING, FOLLOWING HER, ARE WITH THE POLICE.

THE YANG FAMILY HAS TRIED TO MAKE THIS JOURNEY TO BEIJING 20 TIMES NOW. BUT EVERY TIME, THE POLICE ANTICIPATE THEIR NEXT STEPS … AND PHYSICALLY STOP THEM.

NO OTHER COUNTRY KEEPS TABS ON ITS CITIZENS LIKE CHINA.

MORE SECURITY CAMERAS ARE INSTALLED HERE THAN IN THE REST OF THE WORLD COMBINED.

WITH ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, CHINA HAS SUPERCHARGED ITS ABILITY TO STIFLE ANY DISSENT WITH THE MOST SOPHISTICATED SURVEILLANCE SYSTEMS ON THE PLANET.

THE GOVERNMENT IS ABLE TO SPY ON ITS PEOPLE AND REPRESS ITS POPULATION BY PREDICTING WHO SHOULD BE LABELED AS SUSPICIOUS… AND THEY HAD HELP FROM COMPANIES IN A COUNTRY THAT HAS LONG CLAIMED TO SUPPORT FREEDOMS WORLDWIDE.

SOUNDBITE (English) Darren Byler, Associate Professor, Simon Fraser University: “US companies were really leading the way in China in helping the Chinese police to implement these kinds of tools.”

AN ASSOCIATED PRESS INVESTIGATION HAS FOUND THAT FOR DECADES, AMERICAN TECH FIRMS SOLD BILLIONS OF DOLLARS' WORTH OF SURVEILLANCE TECHNOLOGY TO CHINA. THIS, DESPITE REPEATED WARNINGS ABOUT HOW THAT TECHNOLOGY WAS BEING USED.

THE AP OBTAINED TENS OF THOUSANDS OF PAGES OF CLASSIFIED AND INTERNAL DOCUMENTS THAT SHOW HOW COMPANIES INTENTIONALLY DESIGNED AND MARKETED SYSTEMS THAT BECAME THE FOUNDATION FOR CHINA’S DIGITAL CAGE.

THE YANGS ARE FARMERS IN RURAL CHINA CAUGHT IN A LAND DISPUTE.

THEY HAVE LIVED AND FARMED THESE ONE AND A HALF ACRES OF LAND IN EASTERN JIANGSU PROVINCE FOR GENERATIONS.

THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT WANTS TO BUILD APARTMENTS AND SHOPPING CENTERS HERE.

UPSOUND (Mandarin) Yang Guoliang, petitioner: “The white one…”

IT’S EASY TO SPOT THE SURVEILLANCE CAMERAS OUTSIDE OF THE FAMILY HOME.

AFTER THE DISPUTE WITH LOCAL AUTHORITIES OVER THEIR LAND ESCALATED IN 2009, THE FAMILY BECAME THE TARGET OF INTIMIDATION.

THEY FILED REPEATED COMPLAINTS BUT WERE IGNORED.

FINALLY, IN 2023, THEY DECIDED TO PETITION THE CENTRAL GOVERNMENT IN BEIJING. AND THAT’S WHEN THEIR TROUBLES GOT WORSE.

LIGHTS AND CAMERAS WERE INSTALLED AROUND THEIR HOME.

A SURVEILLANCE HUT APPEARED NEXT DOOR, WITH OFFICERS STATIONED AROUND THE CLOCK.

AND EVERY TIME THE FAMILY TRIED TO GO TO BEIJING, MYSTERIOUS MEN STOPPED THEM… SOMETIMES BY FORCE.

SOUNDBITE (Mandarin) Yang Guoliang, petitioner: “I was hospitalized for two months. The police watched me, inside and outside the ward, as though we were political prisoners.”

JIANGSU AUTHORITIES AND POLICE DID NOT RESPOND TO QUESTIONS FROM THE AP ABOUT THE YANGS.

WHEN THE U.S. AND CHINA ESTABLISHED DIPLOMATIC TIES IN THE 1970S, AMERICAN BUSINESSES WERE EAGER TO SELL TO THIS ENORMOUS NEW MARKET.

FOLLOWING THE BLOODY 1989 TIANANMEN CRACKDOWN, CONGRESS BARRED US COMPANIES FROM SELLING MILITARY AND POLICING GEAR TO CHINA, LIKE TANKS, HANDCUFFS, AND FINGERPRINTING AND ENCRYPTION TECHNOLOGY.

THAT BAN IS MOSTLY STILL IN PLACE TODAY – BUT WITH A BIG LOOPHOLE.

IT DIDN’T TAKE INTO ACCOUNT NEWER TECHNOLOGIES, LIKE CAMERAS, COMPUTERS, AND SOFTWARE, THAT COULD ALSO BE USED FOR POLICING.

IN THE WAKE OF THE 9/11 ATTACKS, THE SURVEILLANCE TECH INDUSTRY BOOMED. IBM BUILT SO-CALLED “REAL-TIME CRIME CENTERS” ACROSS THE US AND SOLD “ANTI-TERROR” SOFTWARE THAT THEY SAID COULD SPOT 'SUSPICIOUS INDIVIDUALS' AND FOIL ATTACKS.

ONE OF THE BIGGEST BUYERS OF SURVEILLANCE TECHNOLOGY? CHINA.

SOUNDBITE (English) Rep. Chris Smith, New Jersey: “I think we've been naive or complicit in the extreme. I have been disappointed in all of our presidents who have continuously waived sanctions.”

FOR DECADES, REPRESENTATIVE CHRIS SMITH LED EFFORTS TO BAN THE SALE OF ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY TO CHINESE POLICE. THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION MADE THE MOST RECENT ATTEMPT TO CLOSE THE LOOPHOLE. IT TOO WAS UNSUCCESSFUL.

SOUNDBITE (English) Rep. Chris Smith, New Jersey: “Silicon Valley and the others lobby very hard, and they say: ‘but we’re part of the solution’. Absolutely not! We should in no way aiding and abetting a dictatorship who is tracking down its own people.”

PROCUREMENT RECORDS OBTAINED BY THE DIGITAL MAGAZINE CHINAFILE AND THE AP, SHOW THAT COMPANIES INCLUDING IBM, DELL, HP, CISCO AND SEAGATE PROVIDED THE SERVERS AND STORAGE FOR CHINA’S MASS SURVEILLANCE SYSTEMS.

OTHER COMPANIES, LIKE MICROSOFT AND ORACLE, PROVIDED SOFTWARE TO OPERATE DATABASES. NVIDIA AND INTEL CHIPS POWER FACIAL RECOGNITION PROGRAMS.

MANY OF THE TECH FIRMS TOLD AP THEY FOLLOW THE LAWS AND REGULATIONS OF THE COUNTRIES WHERE THEY OPERATE.

AND THEY SAID THEY ADHERE TO US EXPORT CONTROLS AND UPHOLD CONDUCT THAT RESPECTS HUMAN RIGHTS.

IBM, INTEL, AND MICROSOFT ADDED THAT WHILE THEY DON’T HAVE CONTROL OVER HOW CUSTOMERS USE THEIR TECHNOLOGY, IF THEY DISCOVERED MISUSE, THEY WOULD TAKE CORRECTIVE ACTION.

NVIDIA SAID IT DOES NOT WORK WITH POLICE IN CHINA BUT DID NOT RESPOND TO QUESTIONS ABOUT ITS PAST RELATIONSHIPS WITH A CHINES POLICE RESEARCH INSTITUTE.

LEGAL AND TECH EXPERTS SAY THE MOST EGREGIOUS USE OF SURVEILLANCE TECHNOLOGY WAS AGAINST THE UYGHURS, A LARGELY MUSLIM ETHNICITY NATIVE TO CHINA’S FAR WEST XINJIANG REGION.

AFTER RIOTS ERUPTED IN 2009, LEAKED BLUEPRINTS AND MARKETING DOCUMENTS SHOW HOW AMERICAN COMPANIES PITCHED THEIR SURVEILLANCE TECHNOLOGY TO PREVENT UNREST.

THIS LED TO MASS PRE-EMPTIVE ARRESTS. AROUND A MILLION PEOPLE WERE DETAINED.

SOUNDBITE (Mandarin) Nureli Abliz, Systems engineer: “The technologies provided by Western countries have caused very, very deep trauma to us Uyghur people.”

FORMER GOVERNMENT ENGINEER NURELI ABLIZ HAD DIRECT ACCESS TO XINJIANG’S SURVEILLANCE INFRASTRUCTURE FOR OVER A DECADE.

SOUNDBITE (Mandarin) Nureli Abliz, Systems engineer: “If they hadn't provided us with technology, we wouldn't have been oppressed so quickly and terribly.”

BANK INFORMATION, GPS LOCATIONS, MEDICAL RECORDS, PHONE CALLS AND TEXTS, EVEN WATER AND POWER USAGE WERE ALL CAPTURED AND ANALYZED TO ROOT OUT WHAT THE GOVERNMENT CONSIDERED “POTENTIAL TERRORISTS.”

PEOPLE WERE ALSO FLAGGED FOR THINGS LIKE GROWING A BEARD, GOING ABROAD, OR HAVING MORE THAN ONE PHONE.

FEARING FOR HIS SAFETY, ABLIZ LEFT CHINA.

SOUNDBITE (Mandarin) Nureli Abliz, Systems engineer: “It was this high-tech surveillance that stabbed us to death. So, our voices weren't heard in time.

THE FLOOD OF AMERICAN TECHNOLOGY SLOWED AFTER OUTRAGE OVER THE TREATMENT OF UYGHURS, AND THE US BANNED EXPORTS TO XINJIANG POLICE IN 2019.

CHINESE SURVEILLANCE COMPANIES ARE NOW THRIVING THANKS TO THE FOUNDATION LAID BY US TECH FIRMS.

SOUNDBITE (English) Darren Byler, Associate Professor, Simon Fraser University: “What these tools are, fundamentally, are authoritarian tools. They support those that are in power. They support the status quo. As we see these things spread across the world, we see that being replicated.”

THE CHINESE GOVERNMENT, INCLUDING XINJIANG AUTHORITIES, SAYS SURVEILLANCE ALLOWS POLICE TO STOP CRIMINALS AND TERRORISTS.

THE YANGS SAY THEY ARE NEITHER.

IN OCTOBER 2024, YANG LI AND HER 72-YEAR-OLD MOTHER, XU DONGQING, AGAIN TRIED TO GO TO BEIJING.

THIS TIME, THEY WERE ARRESTED AND PUT ON TRIAL FOR DISRUPTING THE WORK OF THE CHINESE AUTHORITIES. THE TWO WOMEN FACE UP TO A DECADE IN PRISON.

YANG GUOLIANG, WHO IS MONITORED 24 HOURS A DAY, IS NOW A PRISONER IN HIS OWN HOME. HE WORRIES HE WILL NEVER SEE HIS WIFE AND DAUGHTER AGAIN.

SOUNDBITE (Mandarin) Yang Guoliang, petitioner: “I am old, my heart is not in good condition, and I had a stroke. Something life-threatening could happen any time. Truth is lost. Human rights are lost. Freedom is lost.”