Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles has announced that the government will examine surveillance technology used in the offices of the defense department, amid reports that the Chinese-made cameras installed there have increased security risks.
“This is an issue and […] we're doing an assessment of all the technology for surveillance within the defense (department) and where those particular cameras are found, they are going to be removed," Marles told an Australian media outlet on Thursday.
He stressed that the issue was significant but that he doesn’t think “we [the Australian government] should overstate it.”
He spoke as Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese made it clear that he was not concerned about how Beijing might react to the possible removal of cameras.
"We act in accordance with Australia's national interest. We do so transparently and that's what we will continue to do," Albanese told reporters.
The remarks came after opposition lawmaker James Paterson said that his own audit had revealed that almost 1,000 units of surveillance equipment by two partly state-owned Chinese firms were installed across more than 250 Australian government offices. The firms include Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology and Dahua Technology Co.
Paterson, who serves as the shadow minister for cyber security and countering foreign interference, urged the government to urgently hammer out a plan to remove all such cameras.
A Hikvision spokesperson has, meanwhile, told a US media outlet that it was “categorically false” to represent the company as a threat to Australia’s national security because the firm could not access the video data of end users, manage their databases or sell cloud storage in Australia.
The developments come as Australia and China have been looking to mend diplomatic relations, which soured when Canberra in 2018 banned the Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei from Australia’s 5G broadband network and called for an independent inquiry into China’s alleged role in the COVID-19 pandemic. China responded by imposing trade barriers on Australian exports - from barley and lobsters to timber and coal - and by cutting off all ministerial contact.
In July 2022, China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi told reporters that “the Chinese side is willing to take the pulse [on bilateral ties], recalibrate, and set sail again.”