No Chinese surveillance cameras in the Pentagon. That sounds a sensible rule. A federal ban addressing US fears of cyber espionage will end use of Chinese brands at US government agencies. Telecoms groups Huawei and ZTE, and surveillance camera makers Hikvision and Dahua will suffer. An interim ban comes into effect next week. 

Donald Trump’s hostility has made Huawei a household name. Hikvision is less familiar. Yet, as the world’s biggest supplier of surveillance cameras, it has the second-largest US share. Its aggressive expansion got its cameras into US military bases, including the Air Force Space Command. 

US bans should not worry Shenzhen-listed Hikvision. It is 42 per cent owned by the Chinese government and gets more than 70 per cent of sales at home. A prohibition on US parts imports would be more damaging. Components for surveillance cameras, 61 per cent of revenues, are sourced globally. While key parts such as lenses and sensors are sourced locally, most chips and hard disks come from US-based Intel, Nvidia, Seagate and Western Digital.