In Australia, politicians’ offices have been emptied of Chinese-made cameras

Australia’s defense chief announced last week that his department will do away with dozens of Chinese-made security cameras from its buildings because of safety concerns.

The Australian government has installed 913 cameras made by Chinese manufacturers in more than 250 buildings, including the Department of Defense.

ABN News reported last week that all the cameras inside the buildings of the Australian Defense Department would be removed because we must ensure the security of our facilities.

In Australian politician’s offices, 65 closed-circuit television systems (CCTVs) have been installed, Department of Finance officials announced on Tuesday.

As part of a broader security upgrade, the department gradually replaced the cameras, but 40 systems still needed removing, which would be accomplished by April.

As a precaution, the department removed the CCTV cameras because they were not connected to the internet.

Chinese companies have expressed fear that Beijing’s security services may use the images collected by the cameras to collect intelligence.

A “campaign of repression” is alleged to have been carried out by the Chinese government using cameras made by Hikvision and Dahua.

Uyghurs living in western Xinjiang have been subjected to “high-technology surveillance” by Hikvision and Dahua, according to the US Department of Commerce.

During last November’s presidential election the US announced that it was banning imports of surveillance equipment manufactured by these two companies due to unacceptable risks to national security.

As far as Hikvision is concerned, the notion that it poses a threat to national security is categorically false.

As a result of Marles remarks last week regarding the removal of cameras made by Chinese companies China accused Australia of discriminating and suppressing Chinese enterprises.

“We hope [that] Australia will provide a fair, just and nondiscriminatory environment for the normal operations of Chinese enterprises, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning said.