BEIJING - POLICE in China have installed nearly three million cameras across the country since 2003 and will extend surveillance to rural areas, the Ministry of Public Security said on Monday.

'Since 2003... and up to now, over 268,000 alarm and monitoring systems have been installed in China, and more than 2.75 million cameras have been erected,' the ministry said in a statement on its website.

This 'exceeds the total of the previous 20 years.' According to the statement, the ministry urged authorities to expand coverage in cities and to extend security systems in the countryside.

Concerns over protection of privacy - virtually non-existent in the past when the state interfered in all aspects of people's lives - have emerged in China over the years. -- AFP