Germany arrests Chinese woman who allegedly passed airport details to suspected spy

SCMP - German authorities have arrested a Chinese national accused of passing information on a major air freight hub to a man who is suspected of spying for China, prosecutors said on Tuesday.

The woman, identified only as Yaqi X. in line with German privacy rules, was arrested in the eastern city of Leipzig on Monday, federal prosecutors said in a statement. She is suspected of working for a Chinese intelligence service, providing information on flights, freight including military equipment and passengers.

The suspect works for a company that provides logistical services at sites including the Leipzig/Halle Airport, prosecutors said. The airport handles both passengers and freight but is known principally as a cargo hub.

They alleged that, between August 2023 and mid-February this year, she repeatedly passed information to Jian Guo – a German national who was an aide to far-right European Parliament lawmaker Maximilian Krah and was arrested in April. That, prosecutors said, included above all information on the transport of military equipment and of people with connections to a German defence company, which they didn’t identify.

A judge on Monday ordered Yaqi X. held in custody pending a possible indictment, prosecutors said. Her flat and workplace were searched.

Jian Guo is being prosecuted separately.

Prosecutors have said that Guo is accused of working for a Chinese intelligence service and of repeatedly passing on information on negotiations and decisions in the European Parliament. They allege that he also snooped on Chinese dissidents in Germany.

The Chinese Embassy in Berlin did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Tensions have been simmering between Berlin and Beijing over the past year after Chancellor Olaf Scholz unveiled a strategy towards de-risking Germany’s economic relationship with China, calling Beijing a “partner, competitor and systemic rival”.