LONDON (Reuters) - Britain has committed to the removal of&nbsp;Chinese-made&nbsp;surveillance&nbsp;equipment&nbsp;from&nbsp;sensitive&nbsp;government&nbsp;sites&nbsp;as part of its latest plans to address national security concerns related to China.
Under Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who has cast China as the world's greatest challenge to security and prosperity, the&nbsp;government&nbsp;told its departments last year to stop installing&nbsp;Chinese-linked&nbsp;surveillance&nbsp;cameras at&nbsp;sensitive&nbsp;buildings.
In an announcement setting out a proposed tightening of procurement rules, the&nbsp;government&nbsp;said:
"We will also commit to publish a timeline for the removal of&nbsp;surveillance&nbsp;equipment&nbsp;produced by companies subject to China&rsquo;s National Intelligence Law&nbsp;from&nbsp;sensitive&nbsp;central&nbsp;government&nbsp;sites.
"By committing to this timeline, we are providing reassurance and urgency around the removal plans."
The statement did not name specific companies.
British lawmakers have previously called for a ban on the sale and use of security cameras&nbsp;made&nbsp;by Hikvision and Dahua, two partly state-owned&nbsp;Chinese&nbsp;firms, over privacy fears and concerns of the companies' products being linked to human rights abuses in China.
"We believe that the possible action by the&nbsp;UK&nbsp;Government&nbsp;is a further step up of the mounting geopolitical tensions being expressed through technology bans, which by no means relates to the security of Hikvision&rsquo;s products," Hikvision said in a statement via e-mail.
Beijing has said it "firmly opposes" overstretching the concept of national security to suppress&nbsp;Chinese&nbsp;enterprises.
Britain barred TikTok on&nbsp;government&nbsp;phones in March this year, while in 2020 it said it would ban Huawei&nbsp;from&nbsp;its 5G network. Some U.S. states have banned vendors and products&nbsp;from&nbsp;several&nbsp;Chinese&nbsp;technology companies.
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(Reporting by Muvija M)

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UK to remove Chinese-made surveillance equipment from sensitive government sites