US Tech Built China’s Surveillance State; Now We're 'Shocked' It's Used For Surveillance
The AP meticulously details how Chinese cameras monitor Tibetan refugees in Nepal, an 'intense surveillance' stifling the Free Tibet movement. While the focus is rightly on China's oppressive tactics, the convenient omission is how crucial American intellectual property and tech companies were in the foundational buildup of China’s surveillance capabilities. US companies, from chip manufacturers
to software providers, enthusiastically engaged in joint ventures and sales, accelerating China's technological development in areas now used for mass surveillance, including in Xinjiang against Uyghurs and, as the AP notes, against Tibetans. It's a classic case of 'made here, deployed there,' then feigned surprise when a totalitarian regime uses the tools it bought. We funnel billions to regimes
abroad—sometimes for weapons, sometimes for 'economic engagements' that build their oppressive infrastructure—then express moral outrage when those investments yield the intended results. Perhaps the next investigative piece should ask not just who uses the tech, but who profited handsomely by selling it, thereby enabling regimes to turn algorithms into tools of control.