Australian Defense Department to remove Chinese-made cameras
The Australian newspaper reported Thursday that at least 913 cameras, intercoms, electronic entry systems and video recorders developed and manufactured by Chinese companies Hikvision and Dahua are in Australian government and agency offices, including the Defense Department and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
Hikvision and Dahua are partly owned by China’s Communist Party-ruled government.
Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles said his department is assessing all its surveillance technology.
“Where those particular cameras are found, they’re going to be removed,” Marles told Australian Broadcasting Corp.
Asked about Australia’s decision, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning criticized what she called “wrongful practices that overstretch the concept of national security and abuse state power to suppress and discriminate against Chinese enterprises.”
Mao said the Chinese government has “always encouraged Chinese enterprises to carry out foreign investment and cooperation in accordance with market principles and international rules, and on the basis of compliance with local laws.”
Banned in US, UK
The US government said in November it was banning telecommunications and video surveillance equipment from several prominent Chinese brands including Hikvision and Dahua to protect the nation’s communications network.
Security cameras made by Hikvision were also banned from British government buildings in November.
Both companies are subject to China’s National Intelligence Law which requires them to cooperate with Chinese intelligence agencies, opposition cybersecurity spokesman James Paterson said.
“We would have no way of knowing if the sensitive information, images and audio collected by these devices are secretly being sent back to China against the interests of Australian citizens,” Paterson said. (AP)