China summons German ambassador after 4 arrested for alleged spying

ANKARA

The Chinese Foreign Ministry summoned the German ambassador to Beijing after Berlin arrested four people for alleged spying for China, the envoy said.

Earlier this week, German authorities arrested four citizens including an aide to a German far-right politician, Maximilian Krah, who will be running in June’s European Union elections.

"After four Germans were arrested this week for allegedly spying for Chinese secret services, I was summoned to the MFA today. A quite telling move – but, after all, a good opportunity to explain a few things," Ambassador Patricia Flor said on X on Thursday.

Flor added that her country does not “tolerate espionage” in Germany, regardless of which country it comes from.

"We protect our democracy and our constitutional state by constitutional means. The Federal Public Prosecutor General conducts the investigations. In the end, an independent court will decide on the accusations,” she said.

Maximilian Krah’s parliamentary assistant Jian G. was arrested in the eastern city of Dresden on Monday, and judges ordered his pre-trial detention on Wednesday due to the severity of the allegations.

According to the prosecutors, Jian G. worked for AfD lawmaker Krah as an assistant at the European Parliament since 2019, and repeatedly passed on information about negotiations and decisions in the European Parliament to the Chinese secret service. He was also accused of spying on Chinese opposition members in Germany.

On Tuesday, China Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said that the arrests in Germany and Britain of people accused of spying for Beijing were designed to “smear and suppress” the country.

"We noted relevant reports and the media hype. But the truth is there for all to see. The so-called ‘threat of Chinese spies’ is not a new thing in Europe. Every time before or after China-Europe high-level interactions in recent years, there would be such a hype, with a clear intention of smearing and hitting China and souring the atmosphere of China-EU cooperation," Wang said.

*Writing by Islamuddin Sajid