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A husband and wife team conspired to smuggle sensitive military technology, including a sophisticated laser, out of Europe on orders from Chinese state intelligence, German prosecutors have alleged.
The couple — named only as Ina and Herwig F — were arrested alongside their contact with Chinese authorities, Thomas R, Germany’s federal prosecutor said on Monday.
The arrests come just days after German chancellor Olaf Scholz returned from a state visit to China, where the importance of trade and open markets took centre stage. China is Germany’s largest trading partner.
Praising the “great success for [German] counter-intelligence”, interior minister Nancy Faeser warned of the “considerable danger” Chinese spying posed to western businesses.
“We are looking very closely at these risks and threats and have issued clear warnings . . . so that protective measures are increased everywhere,” she said. “The area affected in the current case — innovative technologies from Germany that can be used for military purposes — is particularly sensitive.”
German security authorities have become increasingly vocal about the aggressive threat posed by Chinese intelligence services.
Thomas Haldenwang, head of Germany’s domestic intelligence agency the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) now holds regular meetings with the chief executives of large businesses to warn them of Chinese subterfuge.
“If Russia is a storm, China is climate change,” he said in July last year — a metaphor that has been used recently by other western spy chiefs.
It is unclear how long the arrested trio have worked for Chinese intelligence, German prosecutors said. The suspects’ homes and workplaces have been searched for further evidence.
The husband and wife team ran a business in Düsseldorf, which had sensitive contacts in the German scientific and engineering community.
Together with Thomas R, they set up research projects between the company, German universities and sham Chinese business partners. The business partners were in fact fronts set up by the Chinese Ministry of State Security (MSS).
The first such project was a study on “state of the art machine parts”, which play a crucial role in the operation of modern combat ship propulsion systems.
“At the time of their arrest, the accused were in further negotiations about research projects aimed at expanding China’s maritime combat power in particular,” the prosecutor said.
The group also allegedly smuggled a special laser, with military applications, bought using funds from the MSS, to China without it being declared, according to the prosecutor. It is illegal to export such equipment from the EU without permission.
The network was uncovered following an investigation by the BfV.
All three will appear before judges in court on Monday and Tuesday to set the terms of their pre-trial detention.