Romanian Army uses Chinese surveillance systems

Chinese surveillance equipment, suspected of espionage in the US and UK, is being used by the Romanian Army in strategic locations, with the Defence Ministry assuring the surveillance systems are secure.

Numerous institutions in Romania, including the SRI secret service, police, gendarmerie, customs, prefectures and even the Senate, which is housed in the parliament palace, use equipment made by Hikvision – a Chinese company directly controlled by the communist regime in Beijing – and Dahua, another Chinese manufacturer of surveillance equipment, according to an investigation by Radio Free Europe.

These two companies have sold video surveillance equipment in Romania for several years.

While they are banned in the US and flagged by countries such as the UK and Australia for security reasons, even for offline use, the Romanian authorities have not imposed any restrictions.

Hikvision responded to the investigation by stating that its products had never shown any security threats.

The Defence Ministry justifies its procurement from Chinese companies based on legality, pointing to the absence of restrictions on the Romanian market. “No restriction is imposed on purchasing the respective products on the Romanian market.”

Unlike in the US or the UK, there’s no ban on using such cameras in Romania, even in government institutions. The Ministry of Defence insists that the Chinese equipment in military units isn’t connected to the internet but to internal secure networks, which guarantees the confidentiality of the data.

However, experts warn that offline surveillance devices are not entirely secure. Marian Ghenescu, a video systems specialist, points out that these cameras, which act like mini-computers, may “have vulnerabilities both inadvertent and intentional”.

(Cătălina Mihai | Euractiv.ro)