UK should remove Chinese spy software from official websites due to security concerns

As part of its most recent efforts to address national security concerns over China, Britain has pledged to removing surveillance equipment built in China from critical government locations.

China has been portrayed by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak as the biggest threat to global security and prosperity, and this year the government ordered its ministries to avoid placing Chinese-linked surveillance cameras at strategic locations.

The government said the following in a statement outlining a planned tightening of procurement rules:

As part of our commitment, we’ll also promise to provide a schedule for the removal of surveillance technology made by firms governed by China’s National Intelligence Law from key central government locations.

We are offering certainty and urgency about the removal plans by committing to this deadline.

Specific firms were not mentioned in the announcement.

Due to privacy issues and worries that the goods of the two partially state-owned Chinese businesses, Hikvision and Dahua, may be associated with violations of human rights in China, British legislators have previously called for a ban on the sale and use of security cameras produced by these companies.

Hikvision issued a statement saying, “We feel that the potential action by the UK Government is a further step in the rising geopolitical tensions being reflected via technological prohibitions, which in no way relate to the security of Hikvision’s products.

Beijing has said that it “firmly opposes” using the notion of national security as a justification for repressing Chinese businesses.

According to a statement from the Chinese Embassy in Britain, the Chinese government has “always encouraged Chinese companies to conduct international investment and cooperation in accordance with market principles, international laws, and local laws.”

“We implore the UK side to stop playing political games and to create an environment that is fair, just, and devoid of discrimination for the regular operation of Chinese companies in the UK.”

In March of this year, Britain banned TikTok on government-issued phones, and in 2020, it said that Huawei will be excluded from its 5G network. Several Chinese technology firms’ suppliers and goods are prohibited in several American jurisdictions.