By Tenzin Nyidon
DHARAMSHALA, Feb. 15: UK Conservative MPs in the Public Bill Committee voted to allow HikVision, the Chinese state-owned company, blacklisted in the US for its involvement in detention camps in East Turkestan (Xinjiang), to continue selling their tech in the UK markets. Findings revealed that HikVision is privately lobbying MPs to ensure that they can keep selling their surveillance tech in the UK.
The London-based rights group, Free Tibet, expressed great disappointment to see Clause 65 removed by MPs from the Procurement Bill. Clause 65 would require the UK government to create a timeline to remove surveillance equipment by companies involved in modern slavery, genocide or crimes against humanity, they stated. The move will allow HikVision to operate in the UK market, whose surveillance equipment has been constantly used by the Chinese government to repress innocent Tibetans and Uyghurs.
The rights group has long played an active role in protesting HikVision’s surveillance equipment in the UK. They have started a campaign to remove HikVision from the UK with the support of their allies on their website. Research conducted by Free Tibet with Big Brother Watch revealed that the same surveillance tech has flooded schools, hospitals, defence sites and high streets across the UK.
“We should ban HikVision, Huawei, Tiktok, and all other CCP tech companies from our government buildings and our national security infrastructure as America is begging to do,” Benedict Rogers, the Chief Executive and Co-founder of Hong Kong Watch, said.
The ‘Orwellian’ surveillance tech turned Tibet into a mass surveillance state in 2022 and its equipment were used in the repression of Uyghurs in internment camps by the Chinese government totalitarianism. Thousands of these high-tech cameras are installed in parts of Tibet as a way to control Tibetans or to understand what is happening on the grounds inside Tibet.
The Australian government also committed to removing security cameras made by Chinese companies from government locations amid possible espionage and spyware.
