TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Taipei City Government will check the origin of biometric recognition systems for its employees after city councilors said Friday (Oct. 13) that they were made in China.

Since Beijing has been threatening Taiwan with military action, there are fears that China will be able to use its technology products, including surveillance cameras and smartphones, to spy on Taiwanese citizens. The latest attention focused on facial and biometric recognition equipment used to record the arrival and departure of city government staff at their place of work.

At least eight city departments were using recognition systems made in China, according to Lin Yan-feng (林延鳳) and Yen Juo-fang (顏若芳), members of the Taipei City Council for the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). While 11 other departments used equipment with labels referring to Singapore or Thailand, there was a suspicion they also originated in China, they said.

The opposition politicians accused the Kuomintang-run city administration of violating a 2020 central government ban on the use of Chinese electronic equipment by authorities, the Liberty Times reported.

City officials said they would check the allegations while acknowledging that purchases involving low prices might not have included contracts stipulating the ban. Another reason for the possible oversight was that goods procured from Taiwan suppliers had not been checked for their origin, the report said.

Sitting under a poster reading “Xi Jinping is asking you why you did not show up for work,” Lin and Yen said the systems could record fingerprints and faces, while also linking up to outside communication networks. They called on the city government to stop its use of equipment that could be used to collect data for China and to intensify its supervision of the procurement process.