The affair is making waves at the highest level of the State. An assistant to a MEP from the German far-right AfD party was arrested in Germany on suspicion of spying for China, the federal prosecutor’s office said on Tuesday April 23. China “firmly” rejected the German accusations, according to Chinese state agency Xinhua.
The man, Jian G., is accused of having spied on Chinese opponents in Germany and of having shared information on the European Parliament with a Chinese intelligence service, the prosecution said in a press release. On the European Parliament website, Jian Guo is part of the list of registered accredited assistants of MEP Maximilian Krah, head of the AfD list in the next European elections.
“The information concerning the arrest of an assistant to Mr. Krah is very worrying,” responded the AfD in Berlin. “As we currently have no further information on this matter, we must await the continuation of the investigation carried out by the Attorney General,” the party added.
German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser described the arrest as “extremely serious” on Tuesday. “If it is confirmed that Chinese intelligence services spied on the European Parliament from the inside, this would be an attack on European democracy,” she said in a statement.
His home was searched
In its press release, the prosecution specified that “the accused had transmitted information on several occasions in January 2024 on the negotiations and decisions of the European Parliament to his client in the intelligence service”, detailed the prosecution in a press release. “He also spied on members of the Chinese opposition in Germany for the intelligence service.”
The suspect was arrested on Monday in Dresden, eastern Germany, and his home was searched. Jian Guo lives in both Dresden and Brussels, according to German media.
The arrest comes the day after the arrest of three German nationals suspected of “having worked for a Chinese secret service” before June 2022. One of them notably “recovered information in Germany on innovative technologies that could serve for military purposes.
For its part, the London police announced on Monday the indictment of two men aged 29 and 32 suspected of spying for China between the end of 2021 and February 2023. According to German media, the two cases are not linked. .