In this episode of Tech Tonic, how a mysterious death in Belgrade prompted Serbia to adopt Chinese surveillance technology, raising concerns among Serbian human rights and privacy activists. They fought back against the Serbian government’s use of Huawei facial recognition technology in public spaces. But Serbia is just one of many countries around the world to have adopted this cutting-edge Chinese mass surveillance equipment. What does it tell us about the spread of Chinese influence around the world?

Hosted by James Kynge, this episode features interviews with Danilo Krivokapic (Director, Share Foundation), Andrej Petrovski (Chief Technology Officer, Share Foundation), Stefan Vladisavljev (Program Coordinator, Belgrade Fund for Political Excellence), Wang Huiyao (Director , Beijing Center for Globalization) and Wawa Wang (Director, Just Finance).

Presented by James Kynge. Edwin Lane is senior producer. Josh Gabert-Doyon is a producer. Manuela Saragosa is executive producer. Special thanks to Marton Dunai and Bojan Radic. Sound design is by Breen Turner, with original music by Metaphor Music. The FT’s audio manager is Cheryl Brumley.

Read previous reports by James Kynge, Valerie Hopkins, Helen Warrell and Kathrin Hille on Chinese surveillance technology in the Balkans: https://www.ft.com/content/76fdac7c-7076-47a4-bcb0-7e75af0aadab

News clip credits: PBS, CNBC, CGNT, DW, Moconomy, BBC

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