Spying for China?

Employee of AfD candidate arrested

Police in Dresden have now arrested an employee of the AfD's lead candidate for the European elections. He allegedly passed on information from the European Parliament to China several times in January 2024 and spied on the Chinese opposition movement. The EU Parliament has since suspended the man. 

According to "Bild", the alleged agent is said to have offered himself as an informant around ten years ago. However, the German authorities considered Jian G. unreliable at the time and a possible double agent for China.

The suspect is now a close confidant of AfD top candidate Maximilian Krah. He has been an assistant in the Brussels team since 2019. A short time later, the suspected spy is said to have accompanied the politician on his trip to China. Since then at the latest, he has probably also worked for the Chinese secret service.

Maximilian Krah, AfD top candidate for the European elections(Bild: APA/MAX SLOVENCIK)

Arrested during the night
The arrest is said to have taken place on Tuesday night. Krah also recently played a role in an affair surrounding a pro-Russian disinformation portal called "Voice of Europe", which was shut down by the Czech government in March.

The employee will be brought before the investigating judge on Tuesday. A decision will then be made on an arrest warrant and pre-trial detention. The corresponding tip-off came from the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution. The AfD described the case as "very worrying". The party would now have to await further investigations.

According to "Bild", the man appeared unsuspecting when he was arrested. "If it is confirmed that the European Parliament was spying for Chinese intelligence services, then this is an attack from within on European democracy," said Germany's Interior Minister Nancy Faeser. All allies and backgrounds must be investigated.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry rejected the accusations. "We hope that the relevant staff in Germany will abandon their Cold War mentality and stop using the so-called espionage threat for political manipulation against China," said Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin on Tuesday.

EU Parliament suspends AfD employee
Meanwhile, the EU Parliament reacted to the espionage allegations. Krah's employee was suspended on Tuesday. 

Another case
On Monday, three Germans were arrested for possible espionage for China. The two men and one woman are alleged to have obtained information on military technology in order to pass it on to the Chinese secret service.