BEIJING: Hikvision, a leading surveillance camera maker in China, has refuted accusations that it was disguising its products exported to the US to enable Chinese espionage.
The company denied the claims of espionage that surfaced in a recently leaked Pentagon document.
When asked by the BBC if it collaborates with Chinese intelligence agencies, Hikvision did not respond to inquiries. The technology company said to be closely connected to the Chinese government, is the world’s biggest producer of security cameras.
It provides its products to resellers, who then sell them to governments and businesses, frequently with the re-sellers branding, in practice known as “white labelling.”
Although this is a typical business strategy, Hikvision has come under much fire for its associations with the Chinese government and for using its goods to keep an eye on Uyghurs.
In November, officials went one step further and imposed a state-wide ban on Hikvision equipment, citing worries about national security. The US has previously prohibited Hikvision products from its national supply chains.
Hikvision is accused of “partnering with Chinese intelligence entities” and “using relationships with resellers to disguise its products for sale to government suppliers” in a document from the US government that was hacked and obtained by the BBC.
It asserts that by doing this, Beijing was “creating vectors to compromise DoD [Department of Defence] networks” and that Hikvision equipment
