"Dark Side of Saudi Arabia's Trillion-Dollar NEOM Plan Revealed in China Deals"

Saudi Arabia's plan to build a futuristic city called NEOM, featuring glow-in-the-dark beaches, ski slopes, an artificial moon, robot butlers, and flying taxis, is being developed by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. However, analysts warn that Chinese tech could be used to place residents under total surveillance, as China has already provided surveillance technology for the creation of "safe cities" in Egypt and Serbia. Crown Prince Mohammed appears keen to replicate those projects on a grander scale, and his ambitions for a city where services are regulated by data from sources such as smart phones and surveillance technology raise concerns about invasive surveillance by state security services.