This photo taken on February 5, 2018 shows a police officer wearing a pair of smartglasses with a facial recognition system AFP

Police in China are now using hi-tech ‘smart glasses’ which use facial recognition to pick out suspects in a crowd – and they have already led to seven arrests.

Police tested the equipment at a train station in the central city of Zhengzhou, and picked out seven suspects, accused of crimes from hit-and-runs to human trafficking.

They also picked out 26 people with fake ID, using the glasses which are connected to an online database of suspects.

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Critics have already voiced fears that China’s communist party will use the glasses to identify dissidents.

View photos Chinese police are using dark sunglasses equipped with facial recognition More

China is a world leader in facial recognition technology, and already has a network of 170 million CCTV cameras, many armed with AI or facial recognition technology.

The regime plans to install 400 million more cameras in the coming years.