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Hong Kong
CNN Business
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Hikvision, a leading Chinese surveillance company, has rejected suggestions it poses a threat to Britain’s national security after the UK government banned the use of its camera systems at “sensitive” sites.
The sanctions announced on Thursday would prevent authorities from installing technology produced by Chinese subsidiaries. The National Intelligence Law, which requires Chinese citizens and organizations to cooperate with the country’s intelligence and security services.
In a statement to CNN Business on Friday, Hikvision said “representing Hikvision as a threat to national security is patently false.”
The company said it hopes to engage with UK authorities “Urgent” to understand the decision, and has previously spoken to the UK government about what it sees as misconceptions about its business.
“Hikvision is an equipment manufacturer that has no visibility into end users’ video data,” the Hangzhou-based company said. “Hikvision cannot access end users’ video data and cannot transmit data from end users to third parties. We do not manage end-user databases, nor do we sell cloud storage in the UK.
In a statement to the UK Parliament on Thursday, Cabinet Office Minister Oliver Dowden said that following a security review, government departments had been instructed to stop deploying devices manufactured by companies subject to the National Intelligence Act.
Dowden referred to “the threat to the UK and the increasing capacity and connectivity of these systems” without elaborating.
Government departments have also been notified “Consider whether to remove and replace devices that are deployed at sensitive sites rather than waiting for any scheduled upgrades,” he said. The minister added that departments may review whether similar measures should be taken at non-vulnerable sites.
The move comes months after UK lawmakers called for a ban on technology by other Chinese surveillance camera makers Hikvision and Dahua, citing allegations the companies were involved in enabling human rights abuses against Uyghurs in Xinjiang.
The United States put Hikvision and other Chinese companies on a trade blacklist in 2019, barring them from importing US technology on similar charges.
In a statement released in July by Big Brother Watch, a British nonprofit group that investigates the use of surveillance systems, 67 members of the UK Parliament said Chinese companies should be banned from selling their products in the country.
Big Brother Watch said at the time that it “knows that most public bodies use CCTV cameras made by Hikvision or Dahua, including 73% of councils across the UK, 57% of secondary schools in England, 6 in 10 National Health Service. Trust, as well as UK universities and police forces.”
Earlier this year, the UK Health Minister revealed that 82 Hikvision products were in use in his department.
Hikvision, in its statement, said its cameras comply with UK laws and are “subject to strict security requirements.”
Dahua did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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