China Is Harvesting the DNA of Its People. Is This the Future of Policing?

THE CHINESE POLICE ARE SYSTEMATICALLY COLLECTING GENOMIC DATA FROM TENS OF MILLIONS OF MEN AND BOYS. For several years now, the police and other authorities in China have been collecting across the country DNA samples from millions of men and boys who aren’t suspected of having committed any crime. Ina report published by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute last month, we exposed the extent of the ’s program of genetic surveillance: It no longer is limited to Xinjiang, Tibet and other areas mostly populated by ethnic minorities the government represses; DNA collection — serving no apparent immediate need — has spread across the entire country. We estimate that the authorities’ goal is...