German police have arrested an employee of an Alternative für Deutschland politician in Dresden on suspicion of espionage for China, the broadcasters ARD, RBB and SWR have reported.
The employee, named as Jian G, worked as an assistant for the AfD’s top candidate in the European parliament elections, Maximilian Krah, and lived in Brussels as well as Dresden, the broadcasters report.
Investigators suspect he passed on information on parliamentary operations to China’s ministry of state security (MSS), with a particular focus on Chinese opposition members, according to the reports.
The AfD was not immediately available for comment.
The suspect was arrested on Monday night, hours after three German nationals were arrested on suspicion of working with MSS to hand over technology that could be used for military purposes.
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The arrests come a week after the chancellor, Olaf Scholz, travelled to China to press Beijing on its support for Russia’s wartime economy and to raise issues of intellectual property theft and fair market access.