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Mar 20 • 9 tweets • 6 min read
"Beijing’s latest, horrible abuse of the Tibetan people is to forcibly collect their DNA, their last remaining vestige of privacy. What’s worse, U.S. companies are still working with the authorities perpetrating these atrocities..."

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/…

@washingtonpost
The Chinese government is leveraging technology, including artificial intelligence and big data, to identify people by their faces, their voices, their individual styles of walking and, now, even their cellular makeup...

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/…
Tibetan government-in-exile former President @Drlobsangsangay: “This is a dark side of AI surveillance for the use of genealogical repression.”

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/…
Enter @thermofisher. The company stopped selling DNA kits to police in Xinjiang... to be consistent with the company’s “values, ethics code and policies.”

But the company refuses to cut off the Tibetan police, who are committing the exact same abuses.

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/…
There is no way @thermofisher can know which kits were used for police purposes or mass repression.

“The U.S. Department of Commerce prohibited sales to Xinjiang police in 2019 and should now prohibit sales to Tibetan police,” said @marcorubio

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/…
Absent U.S. government instruction, the only factor that might cause the company to do the right thing is shame. That’s why @SFTHQ staged protests last month at @thermofisher offices in several cities around the world.

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/…
“Thermo Fisher has the opportunity right now to change the future of biometric repression as a tool of authoritarian surveillance, and the company is failing miserably,” @pema0_o Doma, @SFTHQ's executive director, told me.

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/…

@thermofisher
China’s practice of mass DNA collection is unlikely to stay only in China. Absent pushback, every despot and dictator will soon be trying to buy this new, dangerous way to control what their people do, say or think.

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/…
Now is the time for U.S. companies to ensure they are not complicit by getting out of business with these abusers — before Congress is forced to act.

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/…

@PostOpinions

#FreeTibet #FreeUyghurs #FreeHongKong #KeepTaiwanFree

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More from @joshrogin

Josh Rogin Profile picture
Mar 22
The State Department's new human rights report on Saudi Arabia is damning. This is just the summary list of abuses:

"Significant human rights issues included credible reports of: unlawful or arbitrary killings, including extrajudicial killings; enforced disappearances;...
...torture and cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment by government agents; harsh and life-threatening prison conditions; arbitrary arrest and detention; political prisoners or detainees; transnational repression against individuals in another country;...
...serious problems with the independence of the judiciary; arbitrary or unlawful interference with privacy; punishment of family members for alleged offenses by a relative; serious abuses in a conflict, including related to civilian casualties...
Read 10 tweets
Josh Rogin Profile picture
Mar 8
Former @CDCgov and virologist Director Robert Redfield: “I still believe today that the data indicates that the outbreak of Covid 19 was more likely the result of a lab leak than as a result of a natural spillover event.” @GOPoversight @OversightDems
Redfield: “It is my opinion that we should impose a moratorium on gain of function research…” until we are able to have a national debate over its usefulness and the safety risks involved.
Redfield on whether to continue gain of function research: “I don’t think this is a decision that should be left for scientists to make alone. I think we should have a broader societal debate” including how to do it safely. But overall, he says, it’s not worth the risk.
Read 14 tweets
Josh Rogin Profile picture
Mar 3
New: The investigation into covid’s origins must continue washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/… by me @PostOpinions
"The significance of the Energy Department’s disclosure — along with the FBI’s subsequent revelation that it too believes that the coronavirus emerged because of a Wuhan lab leak — is that the government’s investigations are continuing and still turning up new information."
"Despite years of delays, it’s not too late to get to the bottom of this. The investigations must continue, and the public must be allowed to see all the relevant information. The truth must come out, whatever it is."
Read 10 tweets
Josh Rogin Profile picture
Mar 1
.@semafor has officially partnered with a Chinese think tank affiliated with China's United Front foreign influence operations. events.semafor.com/chinaandglobal…
Read all about @semafor's new partner, the Center for China and Globalization, and its ties to CCP foreign influence operations and the United Front Work Department in this paper by @ASPI_org

aspi.org.au/report/party-s…
"The centre is headed by Wang Huiyao (王辉耀), a prominent international commentator who is also an adviser to the UFWD, a member of several united front groups and an important figure in the development of China’s talent recruitment strategy."

aspi.org.au/report/party-s…
Read 6 tweets
Josh Rogin Profile picture
Mar 1
“This is an existential struggle for what life will look like in the 21st century.” - Chairman @RepGallagher opening the first hearing of the Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party
“We seek a durable peace. That’s why we have to deter aggression… The CCP is counting on us being divided. We must prove them wrong.” - Ranking member @CongressmanRaja #ChinaCommittee
Two protesters tried to disrupt the hearing and were escorted out by security.
Read 5 tweets
Josh Rogin Profile picture
Feb 8
🧵: Here is the text of the China section of Biden’s #sotu2023 speech.

“People’s Republic of China was increasing its power and America was falling in the world.
 
Not anymore.
 
I’ve made clear with President Xi that we seek competition, not conflict…”
“… I will make no apologies that we are investing to make America strong. Investing in American innovation, in industries that will define the future, and that China’s government is intent on dominating…”
“… Investing in our alliances and working with our allies to protect our advanced technologies so they’re not used against us.
 
Modernizing our military to safeguard stability and deter aggression…”
Read 6 tweets

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