Photo: Wojtek Grojec/RFE/RL
What is happening?
Beijing has prioritized ties with Serbia, aiming to turn the country into a Balkan hub for expanding Chinese influence — particularly in the tech sector. As Belgrade seeks to expand its own regional influence, it is also extending the reach of Chinese tech firms and helping tie the region to Chinese digital infrastructure for decades.
What is the broader picture?
Belgrade’s growing Chinese tech footprint is spreading across the Balkans through Serbia’s regional economic links. Belgrade has expanded its “Safe City” partnership with Huawei since signing the deal in 2017, with the capital now home to thousands of surveillance cameras. The program aims to provide facial and license-plate recognition and other surveillance tools within a unified, citywide system, but few details have been made public.
Serbian authorities have sought to keep the rollout of the technology out of public view amid legal challenges and protests, particularly over biometric facial recognition. The issue is controversial because there is no basis for the use of such technology under Serbian law. Authorities say facial-recognition software has not yet been deployed, but Serbia’s Ministry of the Interior has attempted to develop legislation for biometric surveillance, including a proposal for special police provisions in 2021, which was withdrawn under public pressure.
A 2022 RFE/RL investigation found that Serbian officials were already using Chinese technology to track activists and protesters, raising concerns that more advanced tools, such as AI-assisted facial recognition, could also be abused. Leaked documents obtained by RFE/RL also show that authorities are continuing to expand the project with new software and services from Huawei, often at steep discounts.
The spread of the technology carries lasting implications — not just for Serbia. The region’s complex history has left strong business links between Serbia and its neighbors, particularly those with ethnic Serb populations. Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Serb-majority confederal entity, has looked to emulate Serbia’s embrace of Chinese technology. Close business ties allow Serbian imports to move freely to its subnational neighbor, and equipment and software are not always recorded as exports. Predominantly Serb authorities in parts of Kosovo have also signed deals outside the central government’s purview to purchase Chinese surveillance equipment. Chinese research ties with Serbian universities — often focused on high-tech fields — are helping foster links in countries such as Bosnia and elsewhere in the Western Balkans, such as Montenegro and North Macedonia.
Why does it matter?
This matters not only because of how surveillance technology can be used to suppress dissent and bolster authoritarian governance, but also in terms of the Balkans becoming integrated into China’s broader technology ecosystem.
European Union members are already grappling with how to balance their reliance on Chinese digital infrastructure, in part spurred on by U.S.-led drives to disengage from Chinese 5G companies and camera networks. As the EU looks for its footing amid Beijing and Washington’s global rivalry, it will need to reckon with neighboring countries becoming more deeply integrated into China’s digital ecosystem.
Reid Standish
Reid Standish is RFE/RL's China Global Affairs correspondent based in Prague and author of the China In Eurasia briefing. He focuses on Chinese foreign policy in Eastern Europe and Central Asia and has reported extensively about China's Belt and Road Initiative and Beijing’s internment camps in Xinjiang. Prior to joining RFE/RL, Reid was an editor at Foreign Policy magazine and its Moscow correspondent. He has also written for The Atlantic and The Washington Post.