Chindia Alert: You’ll be Living in their World Very Soon
aims to alert you to the threats and opportunities that China and India present. China and India require serious attention; case of ‘hidden dragon and crouching tiger’.
Without this attention, governments, businesses and, indeed, individuals may find themselves at a great disadvantage sooner rather than later.
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Facial recognition technology helped officers narrow down search to building in Nantong, but they were unable to tell which room suspect was in
Police went door-to-door hunting for the smell of hotpot after fugitive was spotted buying ingredients at market
Eating hotpot can be a hot and sweaty business. Photo: Shutterstock
China’s facial recognition technology is now so advanced that it can positively identify 98.1 per cent of human faces and within 0.8 seconds, according to China Daily.
But the latest case of unconventional detective work comes from the eastern province of Jiangsu, where local police used their faces, not their target’s, to locate their man – specifically their noses. Call it olfactory recognition.
Jiangsu police had been looking for a man named Guo Bing, who was suspected of gang crimes, fraud and extortion and had been on the run in the city of Nantong since police there cracked down on gang-related activity in late May, local media reported on Tuesday.
Police used facial recognition to figure out which Nantong building Guo was living in, but they did not know which flat.
Authorities in Jiangsu province managed to locate a wanted fugitive by tracking the distinctive scent of hot pot after learning he had recently purchased ingredients for the dish.
“It was difficult to tell which room he lives in, because there are too many residents in the same building,” Ge Lei, a local police detective, told the local television station, “and the busy surroundings didn’t allow us to do more.”
So they put in 24-hour camera surveillance and spotted Guo going to a local market on Saturday afternoon and buying ingredients for hotpot.
“We saw him buying vegetables and hotpot soup base at a market one afternoon,” Ge said, “so we guessed he was going to have hotpot that day.”
Police narrowed down the search to the seventh floor of the building, then started sniffing at each door. When they registered the unmistakable aroma of hotpot, they knew they had their man.
Television footage of the bust showed police descending on the surprised and shirtless man – eating hotpot is a messy and sweaty business – and being hauled away.
China has attacked Ms Meng’s arrest and the extradition process as a “political incident”. She denies all the charges against her.
What does Ms Meng’s lawsuit say?
Ms Meng’s claim – filed in British Columbia’s Supreme Court on Friday – seeks damages against the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), Canadian Border Services Agency (CBSA) and the federal government for allegedly breaching her civil rights under Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
She says CBSA officers held, searched and questioned her at the airport under false pretences before she was arrested by the RCMP.
Image copyrightREUTERSImage caption Ms Meng has a property in Vancouver and is currently out on bail
Her detention was “unlawful” and “arbitrary”, the suit says, and officers “intentionally failed to advise her of the true reasons for her detention, her right to counsel, and her right to silence”.
Where are we in the extradition process?
Ms Meng, 47, will next appear in court on Wednesday, when it will be confirmed that Canada has issued a legal writ over her extradition to the US. A date for an extradition hearing will be set.
But this is still the early stages. A judge must authorise her committal for extradition and the justice minister would then decide whether to surrender her to the US.
There will be chances for appeal and some cases have dragged on for years.
The Meng Wanzhou case – how did we get here?
1 December: Ms Meng, the daughter of Huawei’s founder, is arrested while changing planes at Vancouver airport
7 December: Ms Meng first appears in court in Vancouver, where it is revealed she is accused of breaking US sanctions on Iran. China demands her release
10 December: Canadian citizens Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor are arrested in China
11 December: Ms Meng is released on bail
28 January: US formally charges Ms Meng with fraud and Huawei with circumventing US sanctions on Iran and stealing technology from T Mobile
2 March: Canada says Ms Meng’s extradition can move forward but the process is expected to be long
What is Huawei accused of?
The US alleges Huawei misled the US and a global bank about its relationship with two subsidiaries, Huawei Device USA and Skycom Tech, to conduct business with Iran.
US President Donald Trump’s administration has reinstated all sanctions on Iran removed under a 2015 nuclear deal and recently imposed even stricter measures, hitting oil exports, shipping and banks.
It also alleges Huawei stole technology from T Mobile used to test smartphone durability, as well as obstructing justice and committing wire fraud.
In all, the US has laid 23 charges against the company.
Some Western nations are reviewing business with the firm over spying concerns, although Huawei has always maintained it acts independently.
How has China reacted?
Media caption – Huawei founder Ren Zhengfei on the arrest of his daughter
The arrest has seriously strained relations between China, and the US and Canada.
Beijing says it is an “abuse of the bilateral extradition treaty” between Canada and the US, and has expressed its “resolute opposition” and “strong dissatisfaction” with the proceedings.
China also says the accusations against Huawei, the world’s second biggest smartphone maker by volume, are a “witch-hunt”.
Two Canadian citizens are thought to have been detained in China in retaliation for the arrest.
China and the US are also engaged in tough trade negotiations to end a major tariff dispute.
Xu Dajiang spends at least three days a week in supermarkets in China scrutinizing products. He’s not shopping for bargains; he’s looking for any sign of flaws—an expired sell-by date, a forbidden ingredient, an exaggerated claim on a package, or outright counterfeit.
Earning a living as a professional fraudbuster, Xu is a consumer turned consumer protector, searching for any wrongdoing by local and multinational companies that can be used to file a claim with a retailer and collect damages. “There will always be manufacturers who treat the law with indifference and flout it no matter how much you tighten the regulations,” he says. “That’s when fraudbusters like me have a role to play.”
Fraudbusting is flourishing in China, thanks to continued food and product safety scandals and a revised consumer protection law enacted in March that increases compensation for those who buy damaged or fake goods. The law allows consumers to try to recoup as much as three times the cost of the original product or service purchased. They can file class actions for the first time. The law also carries stiffer penalties for businesses that mislead shoppers.
CHINDIA ALERT: You'll be living in their world, very soon 