BERLIN: Germany and Britain on Monday both swooped on suspected spies accused of passing on secret information to China, as concern deepens in the West over aggressive Chinese espionage.

In Germany, investigators arrested three German nationals in the west of the country suspected of sharing information on maritime technology, prosecutors said in a statement.

The trio, named as Herwig F., Ina F. and Thomas R., are accused of taking part in an information-gathering project funded by Chinese state agencies, as well as illegally exporting a laser to China.

In Britain, two men were charged with handing over “articles, notes, documents or information” to China between 2021 and last year. Police named the men as Christopher Berry, 32, and Christoper Cash, 29, who previously worked at the UK parliament as a researcher.

Beijing rejects espionage accusations

The German arrests and British charges come amid repeated Western warnings of Chinese intelligence services targeting advanced technologies. German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser warned of the “considerable danger posed by Chinese espionage in business, industry and science”.

“The area affected in the current case — innovative technologies from Germany that can be used for military purposes — is particularly sensitive,” Faeser said.

Defaming China

China firmly rejects accusations that it carried out spying activities in Germany, its embassy in Berlin said on Monday, after three Germans were arrested on suspicion of working with the Chinese secret service.

“We call on Germany to desist from exploiting the espionage accusation to politically manipulate the image of China and defame China,” a spokesperson for the embassy said in an emailed statement.

The arrests came a week after 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.Germany’s first national security strategy, unveiled last year, was noticeably tough on China and accused Beijing of repeatedly acting against Berlin’s interests.

‘Extensive business’

In its 2023 annual report, the German military’s counter-intelligence service (MAD) also warned against potential espionage as China seeks to become a technological world leader by 2049. In particular, it mentioned joint projects with the German armed forces as a major risk.

German domestic intelligence chief Thomas Haldenwang said the security authorities were “very vigilant” on the issue of Chinese espionage. Although he did not want to call the latest case the “tip of the iceberg”, Haldenwang said it was “certainly part of a very extensive business”.

One of the suspects in the German case, Thomas R., is accused of working as an agent for an employee of the Chinese ministry of state security (MSS).

He is said to have established contact with Herwig F. and his wife Ina F., who ran a company in Duesseldorf with expertise in technologies that could be used for military purposes.

Published in Dawn, April 23nd, 2024