China begins selling surveillance and facial recognition technology

Chinese firms are hoping to take their surveillance systems global, despite concerns the technology has been used to violate human rights.

Capitalising on their vast experience in developing surveillance systems for Beijing - where there are plans for two cameras per citizen - a disproportionately large number of Chinese companies appeared yesterday at the Milipol security trade fair in Paris, France, to share their technology with the rest of the world.

But what they offered as a solution to homeland security was different from most of the 53 nations present. In contrast to the typical weapons and ammunition on display on other stands, Chinese firms offered non- lethal equipment: helmets, bullet-proof vests and tactical clothing for special forces or riot troops. Jamming equipment. And cameras, lots of cameras.

China is known for its heavy police surveillance, with market research firm IHS Markit estimating it has already deployed 176 million cameras to monitor public spaces across the country. That number is expected to expand to 2.76 billion - or nearly two for each citizen - by 2022.Coupled with facial recognition technology, in which China is also a world leader, the surveillance network is an important element of Chinese efforts to control its population.

A representative of the state-owned Chinese armaments firm Norinco, who held a stand at Milipol with facial recognition technology said: ' In China, facial recognition is not a new technology and we realise this is a safe country because in most public spaces, we have this system to secure the situation.'

It is more difficult to sell the technology in Europe as ' they have fears that it impacts privacy,' he added.

But he said it offers advantages in situations like preventing football violence as police can be alerted when persons known to commit violence arrive near stadiums.

Concerns about the system appear to be well placed.

According to a trove of government documents released by the New York Times recently the surveillance system was used against China's Uighur minority as part of a crackdown in Xinjiang.

Human rights groups and outside experts say more than one million Uighurs and other mostly Muslim minorities have been rounded up in a network of internment camps across the fractious region.

Beijing, after initially denying the camps existed, now describes them as vocational schools aimed at dampening the allure of Islamist extremism and violence through education and job training.

China's involvement in the tech fair has stirred controversy in the past.