There are concerns over security cameras made by Chinese Communist Party-linked companies being installed in government departments as New Zealand’s allies remove the CCTV tech from their sensitive buildings.
A Newstalk ZB investigation has found at least 120 Hikvision or Dahua cameras are installed across the New Zealand Police, Department of Conservation, Ministry of Social Development and Oranga Tamariki.
Manufacturers Dahua and Hikvision are both partly state-owned by the CCP, the Associated Press has reported. Hikvision has also faced allegations of aiding Beijing in oppressing minorities and monitoring protesters, which it has denied.
In February, Australia’s Government said it will remove the surveillance cameras from sensitive buildings, including from several defence and military-associated spaces, after the United States and Britain made similar moves last year.
The US Government said in November that it was banning telecommunications and video surveillance equipment from several prominent Chinese brands, including Hikvision and Dahua, in an effort to protect the nation’s communications network. Security cameras made by Hikvision were also banned from British government buildings in November.
Andrew Little, the minister responsible for the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service and Government Communications Security Bureau, had previously indicated that the likelihood of discovering the cameras in New Zealand government buildings was “very low” after nearly 1000 Chinese-made cameras and other recording devices were found to have been installed across 250 different Australian government building sites.