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China's Foreign Ministry on Thursday urged Australia to create a fair environment for Chinese companies and do more things conducive to mutual trust and cooperation, in response to questions about Australia's removal of China-made surveillance cameras from the defense department.

"We oppose any attempt to generalize the concept of national security and abuse state power to discriminate against and suppress Chinese companies," said Mao Ning, a spokesperson of the ministry.

The Chinese government always encourages Chinese enterprises to conduct overseas investment and cooperation in accordance with market principles and international rules and local laws, Mao said.

Hikvision, one of the companies in question, said that it was "categorically false" to claim the company as a threat to Australia's national security as it could not access the video data of end-users, manage end-user database or sell cloud storage in Australia.

"Our cameras are compliant with all applicable Australian laws and regulations and are subject to strict security requirements," the company said.

Dahua Technology did not immediately respond to a request seeking comment.

Australia's defense department said that it will remove surveillance cameras made by Hikvision and Zhejiang Dahua Technology over so-called security concerns, according to media reports.

"This is an issue … we're doing an assessment of all the technology for surveillance within the defense estate, and where those particular cameras are found they're going to be removed," Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles said in an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corp on Thursday.

"I don't think we should overstate, but it's a significant thing that's been brought to our attention and we're going to fix it," Marles said.

The UK and the US made similar moves last year, citing fears the collected data would be accessed by the Chinese government.

The latest move reflects the attempts of some Australian anti-China forces to play up the China threat theory, create panic and demonize China, Chen Hong, president of the Chinese Association of Australian Studies and director of the Australian Studies Centre at East China Normal University, told the Global Times.

Hikvision and Dahua have installed about 1,000 units of equipment across more than 250 Australian government offices, according to Australian opposition lawmaker James Paterson. He urged the government to urgently come up with a plan to remove the cameras, Reuters reported.

It would be unworthy if the Australian government were to damage the China-Australia relationship based on unsubstantiated rumors, amid warming relations between China and Australia, Chen noted.

"It is hoped that the Australian government will handle it with wisdom," Chen said.

China's Commerce Ministry on Thursday said that mutually beneficial economic and trade cooperation between China and Australia serves the common interests of both countries.

Shu Jueting, spokesperson of the ministry, said on Thursday that China is willing to communicate with Australia on issues of mutual concern in bilateral trade and find mutually beneficial solutions. 

"Meanwhile, we hope that Australia will work with China to provide a fair business environment for Chinese enterprises to invest and promote the high-quality development of bilateral economic and trade cooperation," Shu said.