A 38-year-old Chinese woman living in Germany has been arrested on accusations of supplying China’s intelligence services with sensitive information on Germany’s weapons exports. It is the latest spying-related arrest amid increasing worry in Germany about intelligence gathering by China and Russia.
Germany’s federal prosecutor said in a statement on Tuesday that the woman, identified only as Yaqi X. in keeping with strict privacy rules, worked at Leipzig/Halle Airport in eastern Germany. She is accused of passing along information about “flights, freight and passengers” related to arms exports, as well as information on employees of a German weapons manufacturer, the statement said.
The airport, roughly 90 miles southwest of Berlin, is one of Europe’s largest cargo hubs, handling over 1.5 million tons of freight each year. The authorities said that Ms. X. worked for a logistics company that operates out of the airport.
The authorities said she also had close links to a Chinese man, identified as Jian G., who was arrested in Germany in April and accused of being a spy in Germany and Brussels.
The police arrested Ms. X. on Monday and searched her apartment in Leipzig and her workplace at the airport.
Berlin has become concerned with the number of active spies in Germany since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine as well as intelligence gathering by China, Germany’s largest trade partner.
Last year, security experts and local lawmakers moved to stop the port city of Kiel from twinning with the Chinese port city of Qingdao over fears that the relationship could be used for spying on the German navy and the local military industry, which includes a major submarine builder. And in April, German authorities arrested three German citizens suspected of passing on sensitive naval data and a high-powered laser to Chinese security services.
That month, the police arrested Mr. G., who was working as a parliamentary assistant to a far-right European Union lawmaker. Prosecutors also believed he was an employee of the Chinese secret service.
He is accused of repeatedly passing along information about parliamentary deliberations, and investigators believe that he spied on Chinese opposition groups in Germany. The lawmaker for whom he was a parliamentary assistant, Maximilian Krah, has denied knowledge of any links between the man and the Chinese state security apparatus.
Ms. X. is suspected of passing secret information directly to Mr. G. between the summer of 2023 and February of this year, according to investigators. That information was in part linked to a German weapons manufacturer, they say, although prosecutors declined to identify which one.
The Chinese Embassy in Berlin did not respond to calls or an email seeking comment about the latest arrest.
Prosecutors declined to specify whether the information was related to arms exports to Ukraine or if other flights were monitored. Antonov Airlines, a Ukrainian company whose fleet includes some of the world’s largest cargo planes, moved its planes to Leipzig/Halle after Russian forces invaded Ukraine in early 2022 and destroyed Antonov’s home airport at Hostomel, close to Kyiv.
After the United States, Germany is the second biggest donor of direct military aid to Ukraine. This year alone, Berlin plans to send more than 7 billion euros, or about $7.8 billion, in equipment to help Ukraine defend itself against Russia’s invasion. Although most is brought to Ukraine via truck or train through Poland, some has been sent at least part way as air cargo.
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