Germany arrests three people suspected of spying for China

Investigators have arrested three German nationals suspected of spying for China by providing access to secret maritime technology, prosecutors said.

The trio, named Herwig F., Ina F. and Thomas R. "are strongly suspected of having worked for a Chinese secret service" at some point before June 2022, the prosecutors said in a statement on Monday.

The arrests in Duesseldorf and Bad Homburg in western Germany came amid repeated Western warnings of Chinese intelligence services targeting advanced technologies.

Thomas R. is suspected of working as an agent for an employee of the Chinese Ministry of State Security (MSS), obtaining information in Germany on technologies that could be used for military purposes.

He is said to have established contact with Herwig F. and his wife Ina F., who runs a company in Duesseldorf, to access such technologies and make contacts in the German scientific and research community.

The company signed an agreement with a German university to provide "knowledge transfer", the prosecutors said.

The first phase of the project was allegedly to prepare a study for a Chinese "contractual partner" on state-of-the-art machine parts used in powerful ship engines.

'Chinese espionage'

The contractual partner was the MSS employee that Thomas R. was working for and the project was financed by Chinese state agencies, according to the prosecutors.

At the time of their arrest, the suspects were also allegedly in further negotiations about research projects that could be useful for the expansion of China's maritime combat capabilities.

The trio are also accused of purchasing a special laser from Germany on behalf of the MSS and exporting it to China without authorisation.

Interior Minister Nancy Faeser called the arrests a "great success for our counterintelligence".

"We are aware of the considerable danger posed by Chinese espionage in business, industry and science," Faeser said.

"The area affected in the current case innovative technologies from Germany that can be used for military purposes is particularly sensitive," she said.

Concern over Chinese spies has long been a recurring theme for Germany amid a growing debate over the wisdom of economic ties with Beijing.