Why does China spy on its citizens?

China In Context

The introduction of advanced surveillance technologies has given the Chinese Communist Party powerful tools. It collects information related to people’s spending habits. It is also able to record how they act at work, and even in their homes. Is the state justified in using these tools to influence people’s behaviour? In this podcast, Professor Minxin Pei at Claremont McKenna College in California, USA discusses his recent book The Sentinel State: Surveillance and the Survival of Dictatorship with regular host, Duncan Bartlett.