The assistant of an MEP from the ultra AfD party arrested in Germany for spying for China

The German authorities have arrested an employee of the MEP and main candidate of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) formation for the June European elections, Maximilian Krah, accused of working for China’s secret services. This case comes just a few hours after the arrest of three other German citizens also accused of being employees of the Chinese Ministry of State Security (MSS). Krah is part of European Parliament committees such as human rights, security and defense and relations with the United States.

Jian G., a 43-year-old German national, was arrested on the night of Monday to Tuesday in Dresden, eastern Germany, for having “repeatedly passed information about negotiations and decisions in the European Parliament to the intelligence service” since January. 2024 based on reports from the German secret services, as reported by the German Attorney General’s Office. “He also spied on members of the Chinese opposition in Germany for the intelligence service,” he added in a statement about the detainee, who will appear this Tuesday before the investigating judge.

“I found out this morning from the press about the arrest of my co-worker Jian G.. I have no further information,” Krah wrote on the social network X about his parliamentary assistant. “Spying for a foreign state is a serious accusation. “If the accusations turned out to be true, it would mean the immediate termination of his employment,” he continued in his message.

The MEP’s assistant joined the team in Brussels in 2019 after Krah entered the European Parliament, the German newspaper has reported Die Zeit. Shortly afterwards, the man accompanied the AfD politician on a trip to China. At least since then, Jian G. has been working for the Chinese authorities, although some information suggests that he was already doing so even before his employment with Krah.

According to German public television, Jian G. has Chinese roots. Likewise, they point out that he contacted the German security authorities more than ten years ago to offer them his services as an informant. He was rejected over suspicions that he was a double agent for China because he portrayed himself as an ardent supporter of President Xi Jinping.

“Reports about the arrest of a Krah employee on suspicion of espionage are very worrying. “As we currently do not have more information about the case, we must wait for the Prosecutor General’s Office to continue investigating,” AfD stated through its press department.

German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser has described the accusations as “extremely serious” and has asked that the matter be thoroughly investigated to clarify all connections and background. “If it is confirmed that he has been spying for the Chinese intelligence services from the European Parliament, then this is an attack on European democracy from within,” has written on the social network. “Anyone who hires such an employee is responsible for it,” Faeser continued.

Suspicions against the MEP

Krah, who has also been a member of the AfD federal executive since last summer, has long been making headlines in connection with a pro-Russian disinformation campaign. He and his party colleague Petr Bystron are accused of being involved in pro-Russian propaganda channels and of having accepted money in this context, something they both deny. Also a year ago, information about Krah was published in the German media due to dubious connections with China.

In this context, the president of the Parliamentary Security Control Commission, Konstantin von Notz, of the Greens, has considered the arrest further proof of the authoritarian tendencies of the far-right party. “AfD is a party of dictators,” he told the RND news network. “In the end, that is also the model he has in mind for Germany,” he noted. “[AfD] It despises the rule of law and democracy, making its politicians susceptible to influence from China and Russia. We are not talking about individual cases, all of this has a structure and affects the entire party,” Von Notz added.

More arrests

The arrest of Jian G. is already the second in less than 24 hours for Chinese espionage. This Monday, authorities detained two men and a woman suspected of spying for China. However, the two cases do not appear to be related.

The arrest took place on Monday in Düsseldorf and Bad Homburg, in western Germany, where the homes and workplaces of the three accused of having worked for the Chinese secret services since before June 2022 and of having obtained “information in Germany about innovative technologies that could be used for military purposes” to transmit to China.

At the time of the arrests, the suspects were in negotiations on research projects that could be especially useful in expanding China’s maritime combat power, according to the Prosecutor’s Office investigation. Likewise, the defendants acquired a special laser in Germany at the expense and expense of the MSS and exported it to China without authorization, despite the fact that it is subject to the EU dual-use regulation.

Beijing has rejected accusations of German espionage. “We call on the German side to stop exploiting espionage allegations to politically manipulate China’s image and smear China,” the Chinese embassy in Berlin told state news agency Xinhua.

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