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How China is Leveraging the Social Credit System in the Fight Against Coronavirus
Can China overcome COVID-19 by “crafting an honesty and integrity vaccine”?
National governments the world over are coming to deploy exceptional surveillance measures in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In the People’s Republic of China, the past several months of crisis management has presented the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) with the opportunity to operationalise, test, and refine reward and punishment mechanisms foundational to the logic of the country’s emerging ‘Social Credit System’ (SCS). The SCS relies on the use of big data collection, sharing and analysis methods to secure enhanced control over market and social processes on the behalf of the government.
If successful in containing the pandemic or at least portraying itself as such, the CCP may strengthen domestic and foreign appeal for this new model of surveillance. Not only does this crisis allow national and local governments to trial new surveillance techniques and technologies, it more importantly bolsters the distinct narrative authorities are attempting to pin to China’s rapidly evolving surveillance culture.
Originally posited as a means to standardise China’s market economy, increase levels of trust in society, and ensure…
