Leaked documents dated 11 September suggest Beijing has been supplying Myanmar’s military junta with surveillance technology used to monitor communications, track opponents and, in some cases, facilitate arrests and executions.
The internal records and correspondence indicate that Geedge Networks, headed by Fang Binxing, often dubbed the “father of China’s Great Firewall”, is closely tied to Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative and promotes the government’s ‘Going Global’ policy, encouraging Chinese enterprises to expand abroad. Geedge Networks, a Chinese company based in Hainan South China Sea, provided both hardware and technical expertise to the junta. These systems enable authorities to monitor internet traffic, track user locations, and detect online activities. Human rights defenders, journalists and dissidents have since faced arbitrary detention, torture and extrajudicial killings.
A report titled Silk Road of Surveillance, produced by Justice For Myanmar alongside international partners, accuses Beijing of helping the junta build a “Great Firewall” in the country. The group’s spokesperson warned the partnership poses a “serious threat to the safety of anyone who dares criticise the military regime or seek access to independent information.”
Christopher Mung, Executive Director of Hong Kong Labour Rights Monitor condemned the Chinese authorities for exporting surveillance technology to Myanmar’s military government to suppress pro-democracy activists, calling it as a blatant breach of the ILO’s Article No. 33 on sanctions against the junta. He emphasised that the international community must not turn a blind eye to this.
Since the 2021 coup, Myanmar has been ranked among the world’s most repressive information environments, with widespread censorship, internet shutdowns and blanket surveillance.
In 2024, China Electronics Corporation, a state-owned enterprise and closely related to Geedge Networks, supplied the junta’s Ministry of Transport and Communications with location-tracking systems. The leaked files show Geedge worked with Myanmar’s National Cyber Security Centre, deploying staff in 2022 to install systems capable of blocking VPNs, restricting YouTube access and intercepting Viber calls. A 2023 contract draft revealed plans to purchase an internet “gateway” with the capacity to cut the country off from the web entirely.
Since these systems were rolled out, nearly 1,500 people have been arrested between 2022 and 2024 for posts on Facebook, TikTok and Telegram, or even for private messages. Citizens are also being forced into adopting digital IDs, facial recognition and AI-based behaviour monitoring.
In 2025, Norwegian broadcaster NRK reported that telecoms company Telenor had handed over data on 1,300 users to the junta, resulting in around 500 arrests. Some of this information was directly linked to the capture and execution of democracy activists, including Jimmy and Phyo Zeyar Thaw.
The report concludes Geedge may be complicit in crimes against humanity and urges international sanctions against the company and its leadership. Foreign telecoms firms named in the leaks are also called upon to accept responsibility for their role in enabling arrests, torture and killings of Myanmar civilians.