Agency Report –
The German public prosecutor’s office on Monday charged a US citizen with alleged espionage for China, accusing the man of offering sensitive US military information to a Chinese intelligence service.
The state security division of the Higher Regional Court in Koblenz will decide whether to admit the charges and initiate a trial.
“The accused is sufficiently suspected of having declared his willingness to engage in intelligence activities for a foreign intelligence service in a particularly serious case,” the federal prosecutor’s office stated in a press release.
The man is alleged to have worked for a civilian contractor of the US Department of Defense between 2017 and early 2023, according to the top prosecuting authority.
“From 2020 at the latest, he carried out his duties at a US military base in Germany,” the office said. In mid-2024, the man reportedly contacted Chinese state authorities multiple times, offering to pass on sensitive US military information to a Chinese intelligence service.
Dissatisfaction with employer?
Initial findings suggest that no data was actually transmitted to Chinese authorities at the time.
According to information from dpa, the man was reportedly dissatisfied with his former employer. Whether this may have been a motive for the US citizen is to be clarified during the investigation.
Officers from the Federal Criminal Police Office arrested the man in early November in Frankfurt and he has been in pre-trial detention ever since. His residence was also searched.
The Federal Prosecutor’s Office said it had worked closely with Germany’s domestic intelligence agency, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, during the investigation.
Not an isolated case
In recent months, the Federal Prosecutor’s Office has arrested several individuals suspected of spying for a Chinese intelligence service.
In April 2024, the arrest of a former employee of Maximilian Krah, a member of the far-right Alternative for Germany who sat in the European Parliament at the time, attracted significant attention.
The aide is accused of passing on information from the European Parliament and spying on Chinese dissidents in Germany. The trial in that case is ongoing.
By Marco Krefting and Jacqueline Melcher
