A FOX News crew learned firsthand about China’s surveillance capabilities when one of Beijing’s ubiquitous cameras caught their driver in an illegal parking spot, triggering a $40 fine that arrived on the driver’s phone within minutes.
The incident occurred during anchor Bret Baier’s coverage of President Trump’s state visit to China last week, where the 55-year-old host was broadcasting “Special Report” from the Chinese capital. Trump was making his first presidential trip to China since 2017, accompanied by relatives for talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Broadcasting from outside Haidian Station, Baier used the parking ticket as a jumping-off point to discuss Beijing’s expansive camera network. He counted at least 20 cameras on a single corner and told viewers the city has added cameras at a significant pace.
“In fact, our driver parked illegally for two minutes, and he got a message on his phone that he got a ticket for about 40 bucks U.S because they saw it on the camera,” Baier said, according to a report on the broadcast.
Beijing Locals Turn the Cameras Around
While the Fox anchor critiqued China’s monitoring systems on air, Beijing residents were recording him right back. Video uploaded to Douyin, China’s version of TikTok, captured the FOX crew filming in the middle of heavy traffic, with Baier visible walking in the road as bicycles and electric scooters weaved around him.
Li Jingjing, a reporter for CGTN, the English-language arm of China Global Television Network, shared the clip on X. “While FOX News is complaining they got a ticket for illegal parking … this is what his team is doing,” she wrote. The video has racked up more than one million views. Online viewers were quick to note the irony of the surveillance critique delivered amid what appeared to be traffic disruption.
Another viral clip, boosted by social media personality Mario Nawfal, showed Baier in a cheerier moment, marveling at a barista robot making his coffee. The anchor also visited a Chinese convenience store, where he asked a robot to hand him a sausage.
Big Brother and a $40 Lesson
“Big Brother is watching. There are literally cameras everywhere in Beijing,” Baier told viewers. He noted that jaywalking and double-parking have become fast tracks to instant fines thanks to the surveillance network.
The Fox host then pivoted to bigger-picture concerns, raising questions about the Chinese Communist Party’s interest in citizen tracking and social scoring. “They say it’s to make everybody feel safe,” he said. “These cameras are watching every minute. They’re everywhere.”
The Numbers Behind the Lenses
A report from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute estimated some 600 million cameras in operation across the country, with Beijing increasingly bolting AI-driven face-scanning and movement-tracking tools onto the existing network.
Documents from a Shanghai district cited in the ASPI findings describe plans to let AI-powered cameras and drones “automatically discover and intelligently enforce the law” — which, in the case of FOX’s rental car, appears to be working exactly as advertised. China reportedly films and publicly shames people caught jaywalking, though reports also suggest jaywalking remains a rampant issue in major Chinese cities.
A Rocky Welcome for Team Trump
The president received a royal welcome from his Chinese hosts during the state visit. Trump used a speech to promote collaboration between the U.S. and China, and at a dinner he described the two nations as having a “special relationship.”
Xi struck a similarly diplomatic tone, telling guests, “We both believe that the China-US relationship is the most important bilateral relationship in the world. We must make it work and never mess it up.”
Not everything went smoothly behind the scenes. Secretary of State Marco Rubio reportedly had his passport name changed to “Marco Lu” to bypass sanctions he picked up during his Senate days — a quirky bit of diplomatic improvisation that surfaced during the visit.
What was supposed to be a punchy field report about Beijing’s omnipresent surveillance net turned Baier into an exhibit in his own segment, giving Chinese social media users a viral moment in the process. Baier closed out his segment with a knowing wink to the audience back home, signing off from Beijing while fully aware that the watchers were watching back. Forty bucks, one million views, and a barista robot later, the trip delivered television — just maybe not the kind FOX had planned.
