The expansion of government surveillance efforts in China — and the role that U.S. tech firms played in it — was the foundation of investigative stories from The Associated Press that won a Pulitzer Prize Monday for international reporting. The Pulitzer board recognized AP journalists Dake Kang, Garance Burke, Byron Tau and Aniruddha Ghosal, along with contributor and independent journalist Yael Grauer, for what it called “an astonishing global investigation into state-of-the-art tools of mass surveillance” that also included a story about the expansion of license plate surveillance of drivers in United States by the U.S. Border Patrol. AP Senior Vice President and Executive Editor Julie Pace said “this complex and difficult reporting, done by journalists across several continents, embodies the true spirit of the AP: leveraging our global footprint and deep expertise to tell important, impactful stories. It comes at a critical time when the immense and growing power of U.S.…