A council has pledged not to use CCTV from Chinese manufacturers again after an investigation revealed the authority’s libraries had cameras made by a company alleged to be linked to mass surveillance in China.

A Freedom of Information request by the Local Democracy Reporting Service to the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead found that almost all CCTV cameras in the council’s libraries were made by controversial Chinese company Hikvision.

Hikvision has faced allegations of its products being used in the repression of Muslim minorities in China’s Xinjiang province.

The British government has also raised cyber-security concerns around the use of Chinese-made cameras.

The FOI request revealed there are 53 CCTV cameras installed and operational in RBWM’s council libraries – almost all of which are from Hikvision.

Despite this, the council cited “security and ethical concerns” against using Chinese cameras and systems. None of the 300 cameras in the council’s main public network space are Chinese-made.

A spokesperson for RBWM council said: “Security cameras in our libraries contribute to staff and customer safety, as well as the security of the buildings and their contents, helping to deter and detect crime and anti-social behaviour.

“Many shops and other buildings open to the public have this additional level of security.

“People can be assured that none of the cameras in our libraries are on a network and, therefore, are not vulnerable to cyber security risks.”

The spokesperson added that the council no longer buys any Chinese-made cameras, and that the existing Hikvision cameras were installed years ago before any security concerns were raised.

They also said the cameras will be replaced using a different manufacturer once they have reached the end of their usable life.

It comes amid a wider debate around the use of Chinese technology in the UK’s digital infrastructure.

In November 2022, the government ordered the use of Chinese CCTV equipment on its property to be stopped.

A Chinese embassy statement said: “We are firmly against some people’s moves to deliberately overstretch the concept of national security to wear down Chinese enterprises.”

The government previously announced in 2020 that Huawei equipment would be removed from Britain’s 5G network by the end of 2027, while TikTok was banned from UK government electronic devices in March this year.

Concerns around links to human rights abuses are frequently cited as a reason to shun Chinese surveillance technology.

Hikvision cameras have been alleged to have links to China’s mass incarceration of the Uyghurs, a mostly Muslim minority group who largely live in the country’s western Xinjiang province.

A Foreign Affairs Select Committee report from 2021 found that Hikvision-made cameras “have been deployed throughout Xinjiang, and provide the primary camera technology used in the internment camps.”

Rahima Mahmut, UK director of the World Uyghur Congress, called for the UK government to completely ban the use of Hikvision cameras.

She said: “It's imperative for the UK government to stay true to its dedication to human rights and ethical standards.

“Purchasing such products indirectly aligns the government with a regime responsible for some of the most grievous human rights violations of our time."

The Chinese government has repeatedly denied any human rights abuses in Xinjiang and has claimed Uyghur internment camps are educational facilities.

But groups including Amnesty International have estimated that as many as a million Uyghurs have been arbitrarily detained and subject to human rights violations.

A Hikvision spokesperson said: “It is regrettable that some individuals have been willing to politicise a critical element of the country's security architecture, thus reducing public trust in the vital work that our products support.

“Technical analysis of Hikvision products have never indicated they are a threat to the national security interests of the United Kingdom.

“As a manufacturer, Hikvision has no visibility into end-users' video data and cannot access end users' video data. In the UK, Hikvision does not store end-users' video data and does not offer cloud storage. Hikvision cameras are compliant with the applicable UK laws and regulations and are subject to strict security requirements.

“Hikvision takes human rights seriously. Hikvision has never knowingly or intentionally committed human rights abuses itself or acted in wilful disregard and will never do so in the future."