US Senator Marco Rubio posted a tweet on 13 November 2019 where he says that the Dominican Republic has plans to install a China “safe city” surveillance system that uses facial recognition and captures license plates to make this data available to the Chinese government. Rubio claims the system is already being tested at the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo (UASD) public university. The senator for Florida expressed his disappointment regarding the implementation of the Chinese surveillance technology.
The UASD subsequently confirmed they are negotiating the purchase of a surveillance system for the Santo Domingo campus “for the safety of the students”. The university said that there is no set date for its installation, nor did the university name the contractor or the brand of the equipment.
The Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in the Dominican Republic issued a note on Wednesday, 13 November 2019, rejecting the statement by the US senator. “We express our firm rejection of these unjustified accusations and the attempt to undermine friendly and mutually beneficial cooperation between China and the Dominican Republic. We hope that the government and the Dominican people will be alerted to these dark intentions. Maintaining urban security is a common challenge facing the countries of the world,” reads the Chinese Embassy statement.
The Embassy states: “In the process of development, China has accumulated rich experience in the field of emergency response and public safety and has advanced technologies, which have improved the sense of security and quality of life of the Chinese people. Cooperation between China and Latin America and the Caribbean is a voluntary act on both sides and an irreversible historical trend. If someone like Marco Rubio is disappointed with this, then we believe he will not only be disappointed again and again, but will end up completely desperate.”
As reported in El Nuevo Herald of Miami, during a Friday, 8 November 2019 meeting with President Danilo Medina at the Presidential Palace in Santo Domingo, the commander of U.S. Southern Command, Navy Admiral Craig Faller has said: “They [the Dominican government] are committed to maintaining their relationship with the United States as a matter of priority. They assured me that they understand the information technology and cybernetic risks associated with China and that they are not willing to sacrifice the trust and professionalism of the alliance they have created with us for those risks,” Faller said.
In addition to President Medina, also present for the meeting with Admiral Faller were Defense Minister Rubén Darío Paulino Sem; Minister of the Presidency Gustavo Montalvo, and Flavio Darío Espinal, legal advisor to the Executive Branch.
In the Dominican Republic, Faller met with other high-ranking military officials. He concluded his visit with a tour of the Center for Emergency Operations (COE). The US Southern Command had donated the facility in 2001, and since then authorities have modernized it to better respond to hurricanes and earthquakes.
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Diario Libre
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El Nuevo Herald
US South Command
14 November 2019