Role of U.S. companies in building China's internal security system reviewed

United States, partly in preparation for the Olympics; they said in statements that they comply with current regulations, and G.E. said that it “would fully expect to be supportive of and compliant with any future changes.” I.B.M. has also been active in the market, but had no immediate comment.

Mills said that the Commerce Department’s decision this month to begin overhauling the relevant export regulations reflected a general effort at the agency to make sure that all export controls were up to date. Congress banned the transfer to China of any equipment related to crime control after the Tiananmen Square killings in 1989. At the time, the Commerce Department had some export restrictions on crime-control equipment, dating back to 1975 and also covering shipments to other totalitarian countries such as North Korea. The regulatory overhaul which has just been launched, and which applies to very modest exports of crime-control equipment to totalitarian countries as well as China, is the first since the early 1990s.

At a public security convention for police buyers in November in Shenzhen, China, Bosch of Germany had a large booth near Honeywell’s to promote its surveillance cameras. Panasonic and Siemens have also been selling security systems in China, according to the Washington, D.C.-based Security Industry Association.

China Security and Surveillance Technology concluded an agreement last week with LG Electronics of South Korea to distribute LG’s closed-circuit television equipment and accessories in China for three years. American companies, however, heavily promote their equipment as being the most advanced on the market, in part because much of it was developed to fight the threat of terrorist attacks in the United States. Current American regulations allow the export of most surveillance equipment if regulators believe it could be used in a factory or office complex and is not intended exclusively for police work.

Bradsher notes that in addition to multinationals which export surveillance equipment from the United States, there are other security companies which are incorporated in the United States — and are mainly bankrolled by American hedge funds — but with virtually all of their employees in China. These companies include China Public Security Technology and China Security and Surveillance Technology mentioned earlier. Both companies have been very active in installing street cameras in China and providing software for them. Executives at both companies told Bradsher in telephone interviews that they used Chinese technology and did not expect to be affected by new American regulations. The rules cover only equipment shipped from the United States or made overseas using technology exclusively developed in the United States.