China using social program to effectively suppress dissent, claims US researcher

Amid soaring US-China tensions, research from an American social scientist has claimed that China’s social safety net programme called ‘dibao’ is increasingly being used as a tool to suppress dissent in the nation. The Chinese programme reportedly assures minimum living standards and is targetted at reducing income inequality by providing unconditional transfers by cash to benefit the people whose income is falling under the threshold set by the government. However, a study by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in 2012 had revealed that out of all the households that were entitled to the benefits, only 20-30 per cent of them actually received them. An assistant professor of communication at Stanford University Jennifer Pan reportedly said in an interview that the Chinese programme is being “used very specifically to control individuals.” The author of Welfare for Americans, Pan in those years had introduced the idea of ‘repressive assistance’ in China. "What's unique about dibao is that over time, especially following the Falun Gong protests in 1999, you see a change in how the Chinese government thinks about stability - how important it is, what its relationship to economic development means, as well as how to pursue it... So there's the comprehensive management of public security. And because of those changes, dibao is then used very specifically to control individuals," said Jennifer Pan as quoted by ANI. Read - Rahul Gandhi Flags Concern About China's LAC Infrastructure, Mocks India's Preparation Read - Pompeo Accuses China Of Spreading COVID Misinformation, Says CCP 'putting World At Risk' Pan surveyed, interviewed govt officials As per reports, Pan had surveyed nearly 100 neighbourhoods in China along with interviewing several governments officials in a bid to test if the political order was tied into the distribution under the programme. In the same interview with the media outlet cited by ANI, she said that it became evident how Chinese authorities realised that security alone was not enough to guarantee political order in the area. Therefore, the administration began a safety programme for Beijing’s ‘targeted populations’ including former prisoners who pose a threat to the society, according to the government. "You can make someone less likely to take action ... by giving them material benefits... It's not threats or violence, it's instead, giving them very minimal resources. That keeps them in a particular socio-economic state," she said. (with inputs from ANI) Read - Moon Rocks Collected By China's Mission Handed To Research Teams Read - Trump Signs Bill To Target China-owned Companies Listed On US Stock Exchanges

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China using social program to effectively suppress dissent, claims US researcher

Research from US social scientist has claimed that China’s social safety net programme called ‘dibao’ is increasingly being used as a tool to suppress dissent.

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