(Asian Tech Press)The Chinese military has banned Tesla cars from entering its bases and housing complexes because of concerns about in-built cameras, according to people familiar with the directive.

The ban was triggered by concerns that tesla is collecting sensitive data via the cars’ in-built cameras in a way the Chinese government can’t see or control.

Images of what was purported to be a notice about the ban were also circulating on Chinese social media. Multi-direction cameras and ultrasonic sensors in Tesla cars may “expose locations” and the vehicles are being barred from military residences to ensure the safety of confidential military information, the notice said.

"The directive was not limited to housing areas, of course, that's why no tesla cars showed up at the base today," the people said.

Earlier today, Tesla's chief executive Elon Musk told a high-level conference in China that Tesla would never provide the U.S. government with data collected by its vehicles in China or other countries. Mr. Musk said that no U.S. or Chinese company would risk gathering sensitive or private data and then sharing it with their home government.

It is also widely suspected that the ban was a show-of-strength type of move by the Chinese side while Chinese and U.S. diplomats are holding first talks under Joe Biden's presidency in Alaska.

But according to the people, the ban is only a part of Chinese military's clamping down on smart devices made by foreign companies. "iPhones has been banned a long time ago, then android devices manufactured by foreign companies are banned last year," the people said, "Tesla is an American company, it was only a matter of time that Teslas got banned."