German authorities have arrested an assistant to a Member of the European Parliament (EP) suspected of “particularly serious” espionage for China. The person, identified as Jiang G., an aide to Maximilian Krah, the main candidate of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) in the EP elections, is accused of providing information to Chinese intelligence, on Tuesday, the 23rd of April, citing prosecutors, reports Reuters.
Jiang G, who lived in Brussels as well as the eastern German city of Dresden, also spied on Chinese opposition figures in Germany, prosecutors said. Authorities arrested him in Dresden on Monday and searched his apartment.
“He is charged with a particularly serious offence of working for a foreign secret service,” the prosecutor’s report said.
“Since 2019, he has been working for a German MEP. In January 2024, the accused repeatedly passed on information about conversations and decisions in the European Parliament to a client of his intelligence service,” the report added.
Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said that if the charges were proven, it would constitute “an attack on European democracy from within”. She pointed out that those who employ such staff are also responsible for these actions and stressed that the investigation will be thorough and comprehensive.
Reuters, citing The European Conservative, reported that Krah had already defended G. last year against accusations that he was lobbying for China.
An AfD spokesman described Monday’s arrest as “very disturbing” and pledged the party’s full cooperation.
On the same day as G’s arrest, three German nationals were also arrested on suspicion of working with the Chinese Ministry of State Security (MSS) to transfer technology that could be used for military purposes.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin on Tuesday dismissed recent reports of Chinese espionage in Europe as a “hype”
aimed at discrediting and suppressing China, and called on the involved parties to stop spreading false information “about the so-called Chinese espionage threat”.
The arrests came a week after Chancellor Olaf Scholz had travelled to China to improve economic relations and to resolve differences such as China’s support for Russia.
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