Chinese-built surveillance systems spread across junta-ruled Myanmar, including hundreds of Huawei cameras: sources

Two Yangon-headquartered companies procured cameras and related technology from Huawei, Zhejiang Dahua Technology (Dahua) and Hikvision, sources said

Observers say CCTV cameras pose a serious risk to Myanmar’s democracy activists as military and police use the technology to find and track dissidents

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Surveillance cameras are seen on the Bund in Shanghai. Photo: EPA-EFE

Published: 12:02pm, 11 Jul 2022

Myanmar’s junta government is installing Chinese-built cameras with facial recognition capabilities in more cities across the country, three people with direct knowledge of the matter said.

In tenders to procure and install the security cameras and facial recognition technology, the plans are described as safe city projects aimed at maintaining security and, in some cases, preserving civil peace, said the people who are or have been involved in the projects.

Since the February 2021 coup, local authorities have started new camera surveillance projects for at least five cities including Mawlamyine – the country’s fourth-largest -according to information from the three people who asked not to be identified for fear of reprisals by the junta.

Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar, hold a portrait of Aung San Suu Kyi while flashing the three-finger salute, a symbol of resistance, during an anti-junta protest in February last year. Photo: EPA-EFE

The new projects are in addition to five cities where camera systems touted as crime prevention measures were either installed or planned by the previous government led by Aung San Suu Kyi, according to the sources and local media.

A junta spokesman did not answer calls seeking comment. None of the 10 municipal governments, all of which are controlled by the junta, answered calls seeking comment. Reuters was not able to review the tenders or visit the cities to verify the installation of the cameras.

The junta is planning camera surveillance systems for cities in each of Myanmar’s seven states and seven regions, said one of the sources who was briefed on the junta’s plans on two occasions by different people.

The scale of the junta’s efforts to roll out camera surveillance systems has not been previously reported.