Hikvision, a surveillance powerhouse, walks US-China tightrope

People visiting a Hikvision booth at a security exhibition in Shanghai, China. Hikvision finds itself in the unenviable position of having to assuage security and human rights concerns in the West without angering the Chinese government, a major customer and an all-powerful regulator. — Reuters

BEIJING: For China's Hikvision, the world's largest purveyor of video surveillance systems and a vendor to Xinjiang police agencies, a moment of reckoning may be at hand.

Since Aug 13, Hikvision has not been allowed to sell to US federal government agencies, thanks to a law passed last year that blocked five Chinese firms as possible security threats because their products could allow access to sensitive systems.