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23-04-2024
BERLIN: Three German citizens were arrested on Monday after Germany’s federal prosecutor alleged they were involved in transferring research on technologically advanced machine parts for ship engines to China’s secret service.
The suspects, whose names were listed as Herwig F., Ina F., and Thomas R., due to German privacy laws, were arrested in the German cities Düsseldorf and Bad Homburg under suspicion of having worked for the Chinese secret service.
Herwig F. and Ina F. are a married couple who own an unspecified company in Düsseldorf that enabled them to contact various German researchers. Thomas R. is an employee of China’s Ministry of State Security, according to the statement released by the German federal prosecutor.
“Thomas R. obtained information in Germany on innovative technologies that could be used for military purposes,” the statement said. “To do this, he made use of the couple Herwig F. and Ina F., who run a company from Düsseldorf. (Their company) served as a medium for contacting and collaborating with people from German science and research.”
The couple is believed to have arranged a deal with a German university on behalf of a Chinese organization to provide research information on combat vessel technology in violation of the German Foreign Trade and Payments Act. They are also alleged to have purchased a laser used for military purposes on behalf of China’s Ministry of State Security without authorization.
The arrests come a week after Chancellor Olaf Scholz visited China to press Beijing over intellectual property theft and a slate of other issues.
This is also the second case of arrests in Germany over alleged spying within the last week. On Thursday, two men were arrested in the German city of Bayreuth and were alleged to have been spying for Russia.
Prosecutors say that the two men are suspected of trying to sabotage aid to Ukraine and may have been plotting to blow up unspecified military infrastructure located in Germany.
One of the suspects, identified only as Thomas R. in line with German privacy laws, was allegedly an agent for an employee of China’s Ministry of State Security and procured information in Germany on “militarily usable innovative technologies” for that person, federal prosecutors said in a statement.
The suspects also procured with MSS funding a special laser and exported it to China without permission, although it was classified as a “dual-use” instrument under European Union rules, prosecutors said.
The homes and offices of the suspects, who were arrested in Duesseldorf and in Bad Homburg, near Frankfurt, were searched.
The suspects were arrested a week after a three-day visit to China by Chancellor Olaf Scholz, his second since he took office in late 2021.
German officials wouldn’t be drawn on whether the government was aware of the case at the time but said the trip hadn’t played any role in the timing of the arrests.
In a strategy for relations with China released last year, the German government pointed to a “systemic rivalry” with the Asian power and a need to reduce risks of economic dependency, but highlighted its desire to work with Beijing on challenges such as climate change and maintain strong trade ties.
The document stated that “we take decisive action to counter all analog and digital espionage and sabotage activities by Chinese intelligence services and state-controlled groups, whether these activities be in or directed against Germany.”
Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said Monday’s arrests were “a great success for our counterespionage.” (Int’l Monitoring Desk)
