Cisco and HP bidding to build huge surveillance system in Chongqing, China

Cisco and HP are among a number of Western companies bidding to be part of a project in the Chinese city of Chongqing that could become the world's largest surveillance system.

The Peaceful Chongqing network includes up to 500,000 controllable CCTV cameras covering an area of 400 square miles, more than 25 per cent larger than New York City.

Cisco told The Wall Street Journal that it "has not sold video cameras or video surveillance solutions in any of our public infrastructure projects in China". But HP confirmed that it is bidding to supply servers and storage for the contract.

US companies are forbidden from selling certain security products to China after the 1989 massacre in Tiananmen Square, but there are few restrictions on CCTV and surveillance technology.

"We take them at their word as to the use," said Todd Bradley, the new head of HP operations in China. "It's not my job to really understand what they're going to use it for. Our job is to respond to the bid that they've made."

The Peaceful Chongqing network will be similar to those in many cities, but on a larger scale. Chongqing is the biggest city in central China with a population of more than 30 million.

Cisco has also been heavily involved in building smart cities with advanced networking and wireless capabilities, as well as designing technology to reduce power consumption and congestion at key points. A trial is already in operation at New Songdo City in South Korea.

However, there are fears that the network could be used to clamp down on protests. Several human rights organisations have alleged that China used CCTV footage to identify protestors in Tibet.

Cisco was hit with a legal challenge in May claiming that it collaborated with the Chinese government to hunt down members of the Falun Gong movement online.

Today's CCTV systems can be coupled with sophisticated face and voice recognition technologies, and can see under clothing, pick up conversations and even react to specific sounds like breaking glass.

The news comes a day after Microsoft signed a deal with Chinese search firm Baidu to provide censored English language search results.