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Agencies

Billionaire investor George Soros on Thursday said Chinese President Xi Jinping was “the most dangerous enemy” of free societies for presiding over a hi-tech surveillance regime.
“China is not the only authoritarian regime in the world but it is the wealthiest, strongest and technologically most advanced.
“This makes Xi Jinping the most dangerous opponent of open societies,” Soros told a dinner audience on the margins of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Communist China under Xi has been building a cutting-edge system including facial recognition to keep tabs on its citizens, and Soros said it would be used to calculate how dangerous a threat individuals might pose to the regime.


“The instruments of control developed by artificial intelligence give an inherent advantage of totalitarian regimes over open societies,” the former hedge fund manager said.
“The ‘social credit’ system, if it became operational, would give Xi total control over the people,” he said at the dinner, which was open to the news media.
“Since Xi is the most dangerous enemy of the open society, we must pin our hopes on the Chinese people, and especially on the business community and a political elite willing to uphold the Confucian tradition,” he said, referencing the ancient history of Chinese officials speaking truth to power, even on pain of imprisonment or death.
This Chinese city is policing the streets with facial recognition cameras
Soros said there was an undeclared struggle between the West and China over governance of the internet. China wanted to dictate rules and procedures that governed the digital economy by dominating the developing world with its new platforms and technologies.
“Last year I still believed that China ought to be more deeply embedded in the institutions of global governance, but since then Xi Jinping’s behaviour has changed my opinion,” he said.




“My present view is that instead of waging a trade war with practically the whole world, the US should focus on China. Instead of letting [the Chinese tech companies] ZTE and Huawei off lightly, it needs to crack down on them.
“If these companies came to dominate the 5G market, they would present an unacceptable security risk for the rest of the world.”
Soros said US President Donald Trump was taking the wrong approach to China: making concessions to Beijing and declaring victory while renewing his attacks on US allies.

“This is liable to undermine the US policy objective of curbing China’s abuses and excesses. The reality is that we are in a cold war that threatens to turn into a hot one.”
Soros, 88, has become an lightning rod for his political views and philanthropic efforts. A long-time supporter and financial backer of progressive causes and Democratic politicians, he’s become a target of right-wing activists.
In October, an apparent explosive device was discovered at his suburban New York home.


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Xi Jinping

George Soros calls China’s President Xi Jinping ‘the most dangerous opponent of free societies’ due to face recognition AI and social credit plan

Hungarian-born US investor and philanthropist George Soros delivering a speech on the sideline of the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland, on Thursday. He criticised China’s hi-tech surveillance regime. Photo: AFP

George Soros, billionaire and founder of Soros Fund Management LLC, speaks at an event on day three of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, on Thursday, Jan. 24, 2019. World leaders, influential executives, bankers and policy makers attend the 49th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos from Jan. 22 - 25. Photographer: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg

Develop and control: Xi Jinping urges China to use artificial intelligence in race for tech future

Chinese President Xi Jinping says China must develop, control and use artificial intelligence to secure the country’s future. Photo: AFP

Predicting Beijing’s thinking with the help of artificial intelligence and People’s Daily

Xi Jinping’s policy priorities have remained essentially the same since the president first took power, according to a program’s analysis of the front pages of People’s Daily. Photo: Reuters.

FILE - In this Oct. 28, 2005, file photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency, then Chinese President Hu Jintao, front right, and then North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, front left, inspect an honor guard as Hu arrives at the airport in Pyongyang, North Korea. As North Korea celebrates the 70th anniversary of its founding on Sunday, Sept. 9, 2018, the presence - or absence - of Xi could highlight just how much vitality has been restored to ties between Pyongyang and its most powerful backer after a prolonged chill. (Ju Peng/Xinhua via AP, File)

At the height of the Great Leap Forward peasants all over China were marshalled into massive labour-intensive projects like here were members of the Gangkou commune in Jiujiang, Jiangxi province, march off to work behind red flags. This photo was taken in Autumn of 1959 when slogan was "Go all out and continue Great Leap Forward and defeat rightism". XINHUA PHOTO

***ONE TIME USE ONLY*** The front page of the People Daily.

Chinese President Liu Shaoqi and his wife Wang Guangmei, photographed setting an example during the famine following the Great Leap forward [1958-1962] by picking wild fruit and grasses in the wooded hills of Wenquan near Guangzhou. XINHUA PHOTO

Shenzhen police can now identify drivers using facial recognition surveillance cameras

Expanded traffic surveillance programme in Shenzhen will identify and fine violators, including those driving without a valid license 

Shenzhen has been a pioneer in adopting the most advanced technologies to deal with road rule violations. Photo: Handout

Peking University installs facial recognition system for students and staff on campus gate

Anyone entering from the southwest can have their face scanned by a camera instead of showing their ID card in latest use of the controversial technology

Students and staff use facial recognition to enter the campus at its southwest  gate of Peking University (PKU), for the first day, in Beijing, China, on June 27, 2028. 27JUN18 SCMP/Simon Song

Students try out the facial recognition system to enter the southwest gate of Peking University on Wednesday. Photo: Simon Song

Beijing turns to facial recognition to combat public housing abuses

The face-scanning system is expected to cover all of Beijing’s public housing projects. Photo: AFP

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Billionaire investor warns of China’s use of artificial intelligence to keep tabs on its citizens
He says open societies must ‘pin hopes on the Chinese people’


Billionaire investor speaking in Davos, Switzerland, warns about China’s use of artificial intelligence to keep tabs on its citizens.


George Soros calls China’s President Xi Jinping ‘the most dangerous opponent of free societies’ due to face recognition AI and social credit plan

Billionaire investor warns of China’s use of artificial intelligence to keep tabs on its citizens He says open societies must ‘pin hopes on the Chinese people’

Billionaire investor warns of China’s use of artificial intelligence to keep tabs on its citizens

He says open societies must ‘pin hopes on the Chinese people’