Chinese espionage in Germany. The man arrested in Desdra on charges of espionage for Beijing is the assistant of a radical right-wing MEP. Jian Guo, a German of Chinese origins, works alongside Maximilian Krah, frontrunner in the June elections for the Alternative für Deutschland party.
Jian Guo “is an employee of a Chinese secret service”, explains the statement from the Prosecutor’s Office that made the charges. «In January 2024 the suspect repeatedly forwarded information regarding the negotiations and decisions of the European Parliament to his secret service client. He also spied on Chinese opposition figures in Germany on behalf of the secret services.” His apartment was searched. The prosecutor’s office evoked for him paragraph 2 of article 99 of the Criminal Code which speaks of “serious cases of espionage”, punished with imprisonment from one to ten years (and not up to five years, as in “simple” cases).
Having arrived in Dresden in 2002, Guo offered his collaboration as an informant to the German services regarding ten years ago. He would have been rejected because he was considered a potential double agent. He has been working since 2019 for Krah who has already been surrounded by suspicions of having had relations with China. The MEP was at the center of controversy for having traveled to China in 2023 at the expense of the communist government: in Beijing he met with representatives of the Idcpc intelligence, and then went out of his way to defend Chinese interests in Germany. Krah was also questioned by the American FBI on suspicion of having been financed by the Russian broadcaster Voice of Europe: and he is also subject to a disciplinary dispute by the European Parliament for an affair that has not been made public.
The reaction of the Berlin government was severe. “If the suspicions are confirmed, there will be harsh consequences,” German Justice Minister Marco Buschmann wrote in a message on X. Krah has meanwhile distanced himself from his collaborator. «I learned regarding the arrest of my staff member, Jian Guo, from the press this morning. I have no other information. Spying for a foreign state is a serious charge. If the allegations are proven to be true, it will result in the immediate termination of Mr. Guo’s employment with me,” he commented.
China strongly protested. «The intention of this type of activity (the arrest, ndr) is very obvious and clear and is to defame and repress China and destroy the atmosphere of cooperation between China and Europe”, commented Beijing Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin.
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2024-04-24 13:32:34
