Arunachal: Congress MLA urges PM Modi to ban Chinese CCTV cameras

Congress MLA from Arunachal Pradesh has shot a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting him to ban Chinese CCTV cameras as they can be used as “eyes and ears of Beijing".

The MLA from Pasighat West and former union minister of the state for minority affairs, Ninong Ering, shared the same on Twitter on March 5 and said, "Wrote a letter to Hon’ble PM Sh. @narendramodi Ji to ban the installation of Chinese CCTV systems in Indian Govt offices. These installed CCTVs in use across India can be used as “eyes and ears of Beijing."

Wrote a letter to Hon’ble PM Sh. @narendramodi Ji to ban installation of Chinese CCTV systems in Indian Govt offices. These installed CCTVs in use across India can be used as “eyes and ears of Beijing #CCPChina”. @AshishSinghLIVE @gauravcsawant @Geeta_Mohan @IndiaToday pic.twitter.com/lg1rD9Itow

— Ninong Ering 🇮🇳 (@ninong_erring) March 5, 2023

In his letter to Prime Minister Modi, he underlined the grave threat to India's national security “since the existing laws and awareness are inadequate to deal with this threat.”

“In the present state of affairs, when China has repeatedly shown hostility not just on our LACS but also by attacking India's IT infrastructure, it is evident that India must take decisive action to curb this looming Chinese threat,” Ering's letter dated March 5 read.

Ering also highlighted how Internet Protocol (IP) cameras, often used in CCTV networks, and internet-operated Digital Video Recording (DVR) devices were compromised in the operation by the Chinese hackers.

He further said that many countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia, have identified the dangers associated with using Chinese infrastructure in CCTV systems and have explicitly put public statements and banned their use in areas sensitive to their national security.  

“An estimate by the centre showed that there were over 2 million CCTVs installed across India, with over 90 per cent of them made by companies that are partially owned by the Chinese government. Even more worrisome is the fact that more than half of these are installed in India's government departments,” he said.

“Hence, I will request that you immediately direct a ban on the installation of Chinese CCTV systems in Indian government offices. This can be followed by a launch of a public awareness campaign educating people against using Chinese CCTVs in their homes,” he added.

He also suggested that the government can consider the launch of a swadeshi cloud-based server solution to safely keep the CCTV data wherever it is required.

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