Early on Monday, April 22, a couple living in Düsseldorf, in western Germany, and a 59-year-old man from Bad Homburg were arrested simultaneously. What do they have in common? They are accused of being spies for the Chinese intelligence service. They “are strongly suspected of having worked for a Chinese secret service from a date not exactly defined before June 2022”, writes the federal prosecutor’s office, responsible for espionage cases in Germany.
The main suspect, “Thomas R. worked as an agent for a member of the MSS (Chinese Ministry of State Security, editor’s note) located in China. For him, he retrieved information in Germany on innovative technologies that could be used for military purposes,” writes the prosecution.
For this purpose, he used the couple Herwig F. and Ina F., who manage a company in Düsseldorf, to act as an intermediary for cooperation with the scientific and research world. This is how the spouses concluded, through their company, an agreement with a German university for the transfer of data, adds the prosecution, without specifying which university it is.
Illegal technology transfer
According to the federal prosecutor’s office, the information allegedly passed to the Chinese intelligence officer concerned, among other things, modern machine parts that could be used in powerful ship engines, for example in combat ships. In addition, they are suspected of purchasing special laser equipment on behalf of the MSS and then exporting it to China without authorization. However, this laser is considered a sensitive good, intended for civilian applications but likely to be used for military purposes, and therefore subject to export authorization. At the time of their arrest, the suspects were negotiating other research projects likely to be useful in strengthening China’s combat capability, particularly in the maritime domain, adds the prosecution.
The German Minister of the Interior, Nancy Faeser, welcomed these arrests which come five days after those of two men of Russian and German nationality, suspected of having wanted to commit acts of sabotage against Russia for the benefit of Russia. aid to Ukraine, including on a US army base.
German intelligence on alert
The minister also affirmed that the German security services were “very vigilant” in the face of the “considerable danger of Chinese espionage in the economic, industrial and scientific fields.” After long procrastination, due to close trade ties, Germany has recently somewhat hardened its relations with a “more offensive” China.
A few months ago, the German Minister of Education pointed out the risks of scientific espionage by Chinese students holding state scholarships in German universities. While last year, the leaders of the German secret services also denounced a certain naivety in the country towards China wishing to appropriate Germany’s economic and scientific know-how.