BRUSSELS: The recent arrest of a Chinese national in Germany on espionage charges has reverberated across European political circles, highlighting growing concerns as similar incidents have emerged in several other countries throughout the region. The accused, Jian Guo, has been found to have transferred sensitive documents related to the European Parliament to the Chinese intelligence agencies. Many countries in Europe have arrested Chinese nationals in recent months in relation to spying and espionage.
Jian Guo had been sending confidential information to China since 2002. He managed to work with the German lawmakers. German Prosecutor Stephan Morweiser described it as “the most serious case of Chinese espionage in Germany” discovered so far, adding that it revealed “the extensive espionage interests that China has in relation to political, military and economic matters in Germany and the EU.”
Notably, Jian Guo not only gathered sensitive information but also spied on Chinese dissidents, masquerading as a pro-democracy Chinese activist. A year ago, a Chinese woman was arrested for transmitting information related to Leipzig/Halle airport, which is an important transport hub for the German defence industry, to China. The Chinese woman named Yaqi X was charged with stealing information on military equipment and people linked with a German arms company.
Later, a connection between Yaqi X and Jian Guo was found. The German court of law found both Chinese nationals guilty, sentencing Jian Guo to four years and nine months in prison, and Yaqi X to one year and nine months. While Germany described it as an “especially severe” espionage on behalf of China, the Beijing government rejected the allegations of spying, calling it a “Cold War mindset”.
Sweden arrested a Chinese man in April this year on suspicion of spying on Uyghurs living in the country. Uyghurs are an ethnic minority Muslim community from China’s Xinjiang region, which blames Beijing for repression and human rights violations. The accused shared confidential information with the Chinese intelligence agencies. Säpo, Sweden’s intelligence agency, said “This type of espionage is often carried out by authoritarian or non-democratic states.”
Sweden has already sounded an alarm over China’s growing involvement in espionage activities, which may prove detrimental to the stability of Sweden and Europe. Earlier, Sweden had deported a Chinese journalist named Xuefei Chen Axelsson as she was perceived as a potential risk to national security. China sends spies in the garb of journalists to collect information, said Fredrik Hallström, the Operational Chief at Säpo.
Ukraine arrested a Chinese student and his father for attempting to send classified information on the ‘Neptune’ missile system to China. “As the investigation established, one of the Chinese spies is a 24-year-old former student of one of the Kyiv technical universities. He remained in Kyiv after he was expelled in 2023 for academic failure. Another defendant is his father, who permanently resided in China, but periodically visited Ukraine to personally coordinate his son’s spy work,” as per the Security Service of Ukraine.
Four Chinese nationals were arrested for taking photographs of sensitive military installations at Greece’s Tanagra Air Base. Initially, they claimed innocence, saying they were tourists; however, security agencies grew suspicious of espionage after numerous images of Rafale jets and base infrastructure were found on their electronic devices. Even Switzerland has expressed concerns over espionage risk from China.
A Chinese national wanted for industrial espionage by the US was nabbed by the Italian authorities in July this year. Xu Zewei from Shanghai was arrested in Milan as he was wanted by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). He was accused of stealing COVID-19 vaccine secrets by hacking into the computer systems. Xu attracted charges of computer intrusions, wire fraud, and aggravated identity theft as the US called him a member of a Chinese state-sponsored cyberespionage outfit, Silk Typhoon.
Recently, three Chinese technology companies, namely Huanyu Tianqiong Information Technology, Sichuan Zhixin Ruijie Network Technology, Ltd and Sichuan Juxinhe Network Technology, were found to be engaged in cyber-espionage campaigns for Chinese intelligence services. It was reported in the Joint Cybersecurity Advisory, issued by 13 allied countries.
The data stolen by these Chinese technology companies facilitates Chinese security agencies to identify and track their targets’ communications and movements around the world. Richard Horne, the Chief Executive of the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre, said “We are deeply concerned by the irresponsible behaviour of the named commercial entities based in China that has enabled an unrestrained campaign of malicious cyber activities on a global scale.”
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