An Australian supply chain worker based in Melbourne might have forgotten about the email she wrote two years ago if she hadn’t seen the news that the Australian Federal Government was “filled with CCP spyware.” not.
This email was sent to the Royal Automobile Club of Victoria (RACV), one of Australia’s largest motor vehicle clubs. RACV offers a range of services such as insurance and roadside assistance.
RACV sells Honeywell security cameras. Basically a product of Taikaa Chinese company banned by the US government Because of national security and human rights concerns.
Zhejiang Dahua Technology, which poses a national security threat and has been accused of being involved in Chinese Communist Party (CCP) human rights abuses against Uighurs in Xinjiang, was banned by the UK and US in November 2022.
Brad installed the camera in 2018, but didn’t realize his relationship with Dahua until the equipment stopped working two years later. He called his RACV for help.
The Epoch Times agreed to use only Brad’s name in the article due to his security concerns.
The company told him that the original Honeywell app he was using on his phone was no longer supported and asked him to download a new one.
“They sent me a link to an app that had something very Chinese, something related to it, so that’s when I started looking online,” Brad said.
“I looked it up online. Honeywell will buy Dahua, put the logo on it, and sell it to the unsuspecting Australian public.”
“When I found out, I stopped using the app and unplugged the camera from the modem.”
Security concerns about CCP
Brad, who has studied Falun Gong, a spiritual practice now persecuted in mainland China since 1999, is keenly aware of the CCP’s surveillance measures.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a practice of five meditative exercises along with teachings based on the core values of truth, compassion and tolerance. Since 1999, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has sought to eradicate the practice in a nationwide campaign involving arbitrary arrest, imprisonment, torture, organ harvesting, and other violent tactics.
millions They are held in sprawling CCP detention facilities across China.
He said he sent a lengthy email to RACV after the investigation, clarifying his concerns and asking him to confirm the safety of his cameras so that they would not be used as a surveillance tool by the CCP.
“It’s uncomfortable and taboo to speak out against a communist China, but I have no hesitation when things take a serious turn like threats to information, privacy and security,” he told The Epoch Times. wrote in an e-mail seen by
“The CCP is not known to be friendly when it comes to collecting information (or human organs, for that matter). It demonstrates a strict political system that controls individuals, including thoughts and beliefs. “
“In short, the Chinese Communist Party and everything associated with it is a very real threat not only to Australia but to the world.”
In an email, Brad noted that the federal government has banned Chinese companies Huawei and ZTE from supplying equipment to Australia’s planned 5G network, citing national security concerns.
“In communist China, commercial entities may appear independent, but they must all answer to the Chinese Communist Party. Asked to disclose personal or confidential informationand that directive comes from the austere Chinese Communist Party, which persecutes all forms of dissent at home and abroad,” he wrote.
“And some of the seemingly for-profit organizations are actually fronts of the Chinese Communist Party, for example Huawei has ties to the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, the military arm of the Chinese Communist Party.
“Therefore, it is really disappointing to hear that RACV is now using apps and equipment from Dahua, a company based in Zhejiang (Communist Party of China).”
He suspected profit was the motivation behind RACV’s decision.
“I find it hard to believe that the above information I wrote is not known to your management or the department responsible for purchasing equipment and software from the CCP. You can,” he wrote.
“The situation seems to be little more than a matter of willing blindness, prioritizing profit over privacy and security, and complacency.”
He closed the email by saying that had he known the information two years ago, he would not have installed the security device.
RACV responded to Brad with a brief email confirming that his CCTV system was completely independent of any RACV backend system, but did not address his other concerns.
The Epoch Times reached out to RACV to ask if the company was still using Honeywell products, but did not hear back by the time of publication.
There was a report from Honeywell Quietly drop the Dahua product In 2022, the company also did not respond to an Epoch Times inquiry for confirmation of this report.
Australian Defense Department to remove Chinese cameras
The news that the Australian Department of Defense had removed a Chinese-made camera reminded Brad of his response two years earlier.
Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Richard Marls on February 9 ordered the removal of all Hikvision and Dahua cameras partly owned by the Chinese Communist Party.
The move comes after the announcement by James Patterson’s shadow minister for cybersecurity and foreign interference Semiannual audit results of all federal departments.
About 1,000 Chinese-made surveillance cameras were found at more than 250 sites in federal ministries and agencies, including diplomatic and defense sites.
In response to Marless’ orders, Beijing accused Australia of “abusing state power”.
“We oppose the wrong practice of over-extending the concept of national security and abusing state power to discriminate and suppress Chinese enterprises,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said at a press conference on February 10. said.
“People don’t care until they feel the burn”
The prevalence of Chinese-made cameras in the Commonwealth of Australia isn’t surprising, but Brad said he believes the government would have made this move long ago.
“I remember there was news around [former prime minister] Is it time for Turnbull they did?
Citing his own experience talking to everyday Australians, he added that not many shared his security concerns about Chinese-made products.
“I didn’t feel it from anybody. No one was worried,” he said.
“Until I feel the burn, I think people have this general attitude that it’s not my business and I don’t care. Normally, it is.”
We have reached out to the Department of Defense and the Office of Congressional Services for comment.