By Liam Gibson, Staff Writer — Taiwan News, 5 April 2022
TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The US is preparing to place sanctions on the world’s largest surveillance equipment maker, Hikvision, in a move that would impact more than 180 countries that use the Chinese firm’s gear. The measures could be disruptive for companies and governments around the world, since any entity that continues to do business with the banned company will violate US sanctions. Washington has accused Hikvision of enabling the repression of Uyghurs in China’s Xinjiang region. Vietnam, the US, Mexico, the UK and Brazil are the Hangzhou-based company’s top export destinations.
Hikvision’s products have been widely used in Taiwan too. In 2019 Hikvision supplied roughly a third of Taiwan’s security cameras. Despite some city councillors raising concerns over the security risk, they have been used by Taiwan government departments and even the country’s military. In July of that year Taichung city councillors took issue with the high number of Hikvision cameras that watched over Taichung’s Taiwan Boulevard, triggering data privacy concerns. In response, the Taichung City Government requested the installation company to dismantle the equipment and replace them with cameras made by Taiwanese companies.