Chinese CCTV cameras monitor Britons

Major UK cities use the same surveillance technology as the Chinese Government uses in Uyghur internment camps in Xinjiang, The Mail on Sunday reports. The US has black-listed both Hikvision and Dahua over links to human rights abuses. The UK Government, however, has not sanctioned the companies. 

There is a network of 277,986 Hikvision and Dahua CCTV cameras that monitor Britons in several UK cities. London has 61,504 cameras in place, Birmingham 8,865, Manchester 7,436, and Liverpool 4,957, according to TOP10VPN. The cameras work in low-light conditions and come with sophisticated analytics.

Hikvision supplies CCTV cameras to British schools, police forces, government departments such as the Ministry of Justice, Department for Work and Pensions local councils, hospitals, care homes, and private companies, the Mail on Sunday reports. In February 2021 Thomson Reuters Foundation reported, that half of London councils use Chinese surveillance technology linked to Uyghur abuses.

“I have been calling for the UK government to ban Hikvision and Dahua cameras for months – not least stripping it from Government departments and local councils.” Conservative MP Alicia Kearns of the China Research Group comments.