Campaigners Urge Chinese-Made Cameras Be Removed From UK Sites

Campaign groups are urging the removal of Chinese-made CCTV cameras from sensitive sites in the U.K. citing security risks and human rights concerns.

Campaigners have criticized the use of Chinese surveillance technology at prominent locations and are calling on site operators to remove the cameras. According to a report by The Guardian, letters have been sent asking Salisbury Cathedral to remove cameras made by Dahua Technology, a company based in Hangzhou, China.

Salisbury Cathedral houses one of the four surviving copies of the Magna Carta — the 1215 document sealed by King John that established the principle that everyone, including the monarch, is subject to the law. Dahua Technology states on its website that its low-light surveillance cameras help protect the Magna Carta held at the cathedral.

The campaigners have also written to the authorities responsible for the Parthenon temple in Athens, Greece, which is monitored by cameras produced by another Chinese company Hikvision, urging that those systems be removed as well.

The Guardian reports cameras made by Chinese firms have already been removed from some sensitive U.K. government sites over concerns that they could be remotely accessed by China and potentially used to spy on critical locations.

The letters were sent by the World Uyghur Congress (WUC) and a Ukrainian organization called Don’t Fund Russian Army. Both groups argue that Chinese camera technology poses security risks and should not be used at culturally or politically sensitive sites. The WUC points to reports that the companies’ cameras have systemic vulnerabilities that allowed them to be hacked by Russia for reconnaissance purposes during the invasion of Ukraine.

Oleksii Kuprienko of Don’t Fund Russian Army says there have been multiple incidents in which surveillance footage appeared to be accessed, and in some cases broadcast online, during Russian missile strikes.

“Such footage can be used to analyze the effectiveness of strikes and, at the same time, to intimidate civilians by openly showing the power of Russian weapons,” Kuprienko says.

Kuprienko cited an incident in early 2024 in which footage from a camera believed to have been made by Hikvision showed the operation of a Ukrainian air defense system. “Shortly afterwards, that position was struck,” he says, according to the news outlet.

The campaigners also accuse the Chinese CCTV companies’ technology of aiding the persecution of the country’s Uyghur population and that the cameras are being exploited by Russia in its war in Ukraine. The WUC, which represents the Uyghur minority from China’s Xinjiang region, cited the companies’ alleged involvement in facial recognition systems designed to identify Uyghurs and automate police reporting. The group says Dahua’s CCTV systems had “played a role in control and surveillance mechanisms” in Xinjiang aimed at persecuting the predominantly Muslim population.

“For us, it is particularly painful that the technologies of such companies are being used to protect one of the most prominent symbols of democracy and freedom,” the WUC write in a letter emailed to the cathedral’s head of security.

A spokesperson for Salisbury Cathedral tells The Guardian it has not received the email. However, the news outlet reports that it has seen evidence indicating the message was sent on December 22.

“We also do not comment on security matters; however, our systems and suppliers are regularly reviewed, working with external advisers,” the cathedral spokesperson says.

Image credits: Header photo licensed via Depositphotos.