Surveillance state: 18 of the world’s 20 most monitored cities are in China

Name: US blacklists 28 Chinese entities over Xinjiang
Uploaded: 2020-07-26T15:00:08.000Z
Duration: 1 min 22 s
Description: US blacklists 28 Chinese entities over Xinjiang

Beijing and Shanghai each have at least 1 million surveillance cameras, a study finds, but Taiyuan and Wuxi are the most surveilled on a per capita basis

The study by the British technology website Comparitech also shows that more cameras do not necessarily reduce crime rates

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China is home to 18 of the 20 most monitored cities in the world, according to a recent study. Photo: AP

Holly Chik

Published: 11:00pm, 26 Jul 2020Updated: 11:47am, 7 Apr 2021

China is home to 18 of the world’s 20 most monitored cities and over half the surveillance cameras in use globally, according to a study by British technology website Comparitech.

But while the use of live video surveillance continues to grow, the study said that more cameras do not necessarily reduce crime rates.

“A primary argument in favour of closed-circuit television (CCTV) surveillance is improved law enforcement and crime prevention … [But] a higher number of cameras just barely correlates with a lower crime index,” it said.

The study compared the number of public surveillance cameras with the crime indices reported based on surveys by Numbeo, a crowdsourced database.

China’s national video surveillance system, which authorities claim is intended to keep the public safe, has equipped the country with more than 20 million cameras, Chinese state media reported in 2017, with millions more expected by 2020.

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US blacklists 28 Chinese entities over Xinjiang