[China’s police force has] swept across the country since late 2017 to collect enough samples to build a vast DNA database, according to a new study published on [June 17] by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, a research organization, based on documents also reviewed by The New York Times. With this database, the authorities would be able to track down a man’s male relatives using only that man’s blood, saliva or other genetic material.
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The project is a major escalation of China’s efforts to use genetics to control its people, which had been focused on tracking ethnic minorities and other, more targeted groups. It would add to a growing, sophisticated surveillance net that the police are deploying across the country, one that increasingly includes advanced cameras, facial recognition systems and artificial intelligence.
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The authorities told Jiang [Haolin], a computer engineer from a rural county in northern China, that “if blood wasn’t collected, we would be listed as a ‘black household,’” he said last year, and it would deprive him and his family of benefits like the right to travel and go to a hospital.
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The authorities have moved quietly. [Emile] Dirks, co-author of the Australian paper, said nearly all of the collection was taking place in the countryside, where there was little understanding of the implications of the program.
