About 1,000 Key Government Buildings to Be Demolished
Chinese Companies Required to Provide Information to Chinese Government
The Australian government has decided to remove Chinese-made closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras installed in national buildings due to security concerns.
According to the Australian daily The Australian on the 9th, Richard Marles, Australia's Minister for Defence, announced that Chinese-made surveillance cameras and video recorders installed in the Department of Defence buildings will be urgently removed.
It was recently confirmed through a parliamentary audit that about 1,000 surveillance devices supplied by Chinese Communist Party-linked telecommunications companies Hikvision and Dahua are installed in key government buildings such as the Department of Defence, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Department of Justice.
Hikvision and Dahua are representative Chinese technology companies in advanced video surveillance technology and artificial intelligence (AI) fields, and under the "Chinese National Intelligence Law," they have a legal obligation to provide various information to the Chinese government.
Accordingly, the Australian government is reportedly concerned about the possibility that data collected through Chinese-made surveillance devices could be leaked overseas.
Minister Marles stated, "It has been revealed that Chinese-made surveillance devices have been installed and operated for a considerable period," adding, "We are currently conducting investigations on all Department of Defence buildings and will remove all of them."
Mike Burgess, Director-General of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO), also expressed concerns about products from Hikvision and Dahua, saying, "The issue is not the technology itself but where the information collected by that technology is stored and how it is used."
It is known that not only the Department of Defence but also other government departments such as Foreign Affairs, Justice, Treasury, and Energy will conduct investigations and carry out large-scale removal operations of Chinese-made surveillance devices.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese also stated, "Removing surveillance devices from Chinese companies is a legitimate and transparent measure taken from a national security perspective, and it will not lead to a deterioration in relations with China."
Meanwhile, in addition to this measure, the Australian government excluded the Chinese information and communications company Huawei from the 5th generation (5G) network project in 2018 for security reasons, which triggered strong backlash from the Chinese government and worsened relations.
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