Information on whether the Public Security Bureau (PSB) has set up a national computer network for information sharing was scarce among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate. In 25 April 2006 correspondence to the Research Directorate, a politics professor at Goldsmiths College, University of London, commented that, based on his time undertaking research on community policing in China in 2005, he could confirm that a national computer network for use by the Chinese police was being set up. However, because the computer network was not the focus of his research, the professor did not have additional information, nor was he aware of whether the network was operational (25 Apr. 2006). On 3 September 2003, the official Chinese Xinhua News Agency reported that a "computer-based information network" known as the "Golden Shield" had been launched. The network was to be used by various levels of public security offices to carry out criminal investigations and administrative tasks (Xinhua 3 Sept. 2003). While the news agency did not provide additional information on the network, a 2001 People's Daily article revealed that a "digital wide-band network" with the name "Golden Shield" was to be set up to allow the Beijing PSB to store information on suspects and criminal activities, and to compare fingerprints, bullet marks and DNA profiles (3 Sept. 2001). A 20 February 2006 China Daily article, however, pointed out that, according to a Chinese engineering professor who developed a "face recognition system," a database containing information on fingerprints did not exist in China. The Xinhua News Agency also noted that authorities were planning to create, by the year 2005, a database containing information on public security that could be accessed by law enforcement and justice personnel, as well as by public users (Xinhua 3 Sept. 2003). Further information on the "Golden Shield" project or on a public security database could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate.

An information network providing data on traffic violations and connecting police in more than 630 cities and counties across China was to be launched nationwide in 2005, according to a 26 July 2005 China Daily article. The network, which allows police officers to transmit information on out-of-town traffic violators for inclusion in the database of the Traffic Administration Bureau, was operational in 21 provinces and regions by the end of June 2005, and was to be available to the rest of the country by October 2005 (China Daily 26 July 2005).

In February 2004, the Xinhua News Agency reported that the Chinese government intended to develop an information network containing a range of information on its citizens, including "population information" from the Public Security Bureau and data on family planning, taxation and social security (21 Feb. 2004). According to a government official quoted by the news agency, the network would compile such information as a person's name, identification card number, place of birth, sex and nationality, in addition to data from various government departments (Xinhua 21 Feb. 2004). The official further indicated that the network would first operate on a trial basis in select areas starting 1 March 2005, and would be operational in the rest of the country by 2006 (ibid.). A paper on the use of information technologies by the Chinese government, co-authored by Dr. Mary Astone of the Sorrell College of Business at Troy State University and Dalian Xu, pointed out that a national population information network being set up as part of the Chinese "Government On Line Project" was aimed at providing police across the country with personal data on Chinese citizens aged 16 years and above (Astone and Xu n.d., 7). The network was to be operational by the end of 2003, according to Xu and Astone, who also remarked, without elaborating, that "an internal police network" had allowed the capture of escaped prisoners (ibid.). Information on whether the information network on traffic violations or the network on population information was fully functional in all of China could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate.

The politics professor at Goldsmiths College pointed out that various branches of the police shared information on suspects and crimes via telephone or facsimile, and that electronic mail (e-mail) services were available to the police (25 Apr. 2006).

Under the country's hukou or household registration system, the hukou police retain a dossier on file at the local police station for each citizen who has registered for a temporary or permanent hukou (Wang 2005, 69). Fei-Ling Wang writes in his book, Organizing Through Division and Exclusion: China's Hukou System, that hukou files contain information such as birth date, "personal data, family relations, migration out, [and] migration in" (ibid.). Wang notes that "[i]ndividual hukou dossiers are available to law-enforcement agencies or other authorized personnel" (ibid.). The hukou police are also responsible for alerting police in the place of origin and destination when a targeted person (zhongdian renkou) migrates (ibid., 81). There are five categories of targeted persons and these include: residents suspected of being a threat to national security, residents suspected of involvement in serious criminal activities, residents who have shown tendencies for violent acts, ex-convicts released in the last five years, and narcotics users (ibid., 108). Further information on the extent of communication between police officers and information on the availability of a police computer network at international airports in China could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim for refugee protection. Please find below the list of additional sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

China Daily. 20 February 2006. "Face Recognition System Approved." http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2006-02/20/content_521826.htm [Accessed 24 Mar. 2006]

_____. 26 July 2005. "Computer Net Snags Out-of-Towners." (China Internet Information Center) http://www.china.org.cn/english/Life/136114.htm [Accessed 24 Mar. 2006]

People's Daily [Beijing]. 3 September 2001. "Beijing to Expand Public Security Information Network." http://english.people.com.cn/200109/03/eng20010903_79170.html [Accessed 24 Mar. 2006]

Politics professor, Goldsmiths College, University of London. 25 April 2006. Correspondence.

Wang, Fei-Ling. 2005. Organizing Through Division and Exclusion: China's Hukou System. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press.

Xinhua News Agency [Beijing]. 21 February 2004. "China to Build Population Information Network." (Factiva)

_____. 3 September 2003. "Huang Ju Urges Building Information Network Among Police Departments." (China Internet Information Center) http://www.china.org.cn/english/government/74145.htm [Accessed 24 Mar. 2006]

Xu, Daliang and Mary Astone. N.d. "E-Government in China." http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/APCITY/UNPAN022802.pdf [Accessed 26 Apr. 2006]

Four oral souces did not provide information within the time constraints of this Response.

Publications: World Police Encyclopedia ( 2006)

Internet sites, including: Amnesty International, Asian Association of Police Studies, Congressional-Executive Commission on China (United States), Human Rights Watch, United Kingdom Home Office, United States Department of State, World Justice Information Network.