Hong Kong police may look to mainland China for equipment for their planned HK$5.78 billion upgrade of communications and computer systems out of national security concerns, the security minister has said.

Chris Tang Ping-keung told legislators on Tuesday that national security would be an important factor in the force’s procurement policy and it would seek to avoid the risk of dealing with suppliers which could discontinue services in case of foreign sanctions.

“National security considerations may include whether the equipment we buy might have security vulnerabilities that could result in data leakage, or whether a supplier could suddenly refuse to sell the products to us,” he said.