Two new reports detail how the Chinese government is using DNA samples to monitor its citizens, especially dissenters and ethnic minorities, according to a report in Popular Science.
Both the Citizen Lab (CL) and Human Rights Watch (HRW) report on efforts to collect "pinprick blood samples" from more than 1.2 million citizens, Popular Science reports in the Sept. 19 article; Tibet, "where government repression and forced cultural assimilation campaigns have been pushed for decades," has been a focus of these efforts, according to Popular Science.
HRW reports the Chinese government is conducting mass forced DNA collections throughout Tibet, including from children as young as five years. The Sept. 5 report states the collections are part of the Chinese authorities' moves to create a grassroots police presence in the region.
"There is no publicly available evidence suggesting people can decline to participate or that police have credible evidence of criminal conduct that might warrant such collection," HRW reports. The article states DNA was collected from all residents. "None of the reports indicate any conditions under which a resident could refuse to provide a sample," HRW reports.
“The Chinese government is already subjecting Tibetans to pervasive repression,” Sophie Richardson, China director at HRW, said in the HRW report. “Now the authorities are literally taking blood without consent to strengthen their surveillance capabilities.”
Although Chinese authorities have told residents the DNA collections were needed "for general crime detection," there's been no indication that police have evidence of criminal activity to warrant the collections, according to HRW.
Emile Dirks, postdoctoral fellow for the Citizens Lab, agrees the forced collections are evidence of China's continuing attempts to culturally assimilate Tibet.
"Based on our analysis," Dirks told Popular Science, "we believe that this program is a form of social control directed against Tibet’s people, who have long been subject to intense state surveillance and repression.”
CL reports the forced DNA collection extends across China and has been instrumental in suppressing religions and ethnic minorities, such as the Uyghurs.
"Beginning in 2017," the report states, "the Ministry of Public Security launched a nationwide program to create a 'male ancestry investigation system' containing DNA samples and genealogical records for 35–70 million Chinese men."
