we explain the case which led to the arrest of an assistant to a far-right German MEP

Jian Guo, employed by the AfD, is suspected of having shared information from the European Parliament. These accusations, which Beijing rejects, come in the middle of the campaign for the European elections.

The European Parliament at the heart of a espionage affair? The German federal prosecutor’s office announced on Tuesday April 23 the arrest of an assistant to Maximilian Krah, German MEP from the AfD (Alternative for Germany, far right), due to suspicions of espionage in favor of Beijing. Jian Guo is accused of passing information on Chinese opponents in Germany and of sharing information on the European Parliament with a Chinese intelligence service. Franceinfo explains this affair to you which takes place a few weeks before the European elections (June 9).

Information on the European Parliament “transmitted” to Beijing

He worked for Maximilian Krah in Brussels since 2019. On the European Parliament website, Jian Guo, a German national, is part of the list of accredited assistants of the MEP, head of the AfD list in the next European elections of June 9. He was arrested on Monday in Dresden (eastern Germany), and his home was searched. He would have “transmitted in January 2024 on several occasions information on the negotiations and decisions of the European Parliament to his client from the intelligence service” Chinese, explained the federal prosecutor’s office on Tuesday.

Jian Guo has been suspended from Parliament with immediate effect, “given the seriousness of the revelations”, assured a spokesperson for the body. Maximilian Krah indicated that he had separated from Jian Guo. According to research carried out by German public television, he is not unknown to the German intelligence services to whom he had unsuccessfully offered his services as an informant at least ten years ago. Separately, German authorities arrested three other nationals on Monday also accused of spying for China, while two men were charged in London (United Kingdom) on similar suspicions.

New blow for Germany’s far-right party

Germany’s far-right party sought to limit the damage on Wednesday. The anti-migrant and anti-euro movement has decided to keep its head of list in office for the European elections in June, Maximilian Krah. The latter considered that he had not committed “mistake” and shifted all responsibility for the matter onto his assistant. However, “in order not to damage the image of the party”, he will not participate in the launch of the AfD’s European campaign scheduled for this weekend. The movement is currently second in the polls relating to the vote, recalls the Politico site.

This arrest and these charges were judged “very worrying”by the party, which announced the summons of the MEP to explain himself to the governing bodies in Berlin. “As we currently have no further information on this matter, we must await the continuation of the investigation carried out by the Attorney General”, added the AfD. This scandal comes on top of that involving certain European lawmakers, who allegedly accepted money to disseminate pro-Russian positions on a news website financed by Moscow, and with which Maximilian Krah was already associated.

German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser called the case a“extremely serious”. If it was confirmed, “this would be an attack on European democracy”, she said in a press release. MEPs from Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s center-left coalition announced a debate in the Bundestag on Thursday on the topic “Threat to our democracy: Russia, China and the role of the AfD”.

Beijing formally denies the accusations

Beijing, Germany’s largest economic partner, which received a visit from Olaf Scholz in mid-April, has completely denied the accusations. “The theory of the threat of alleged Chinese espionage is not a new thing in European public opinion”, declared a spokesperson for Chinese diplomacy, Wang Wenbin. He deplored a “calumny” specific to “destroy the atmosphere of cooperation between China and Europe”.

However, according to Emmanuel Véron, specialist in contemporary China, interviewed by franceinfo, “this affair reveals the abysmal dimension of the action of the Chinese secret services on European territory, and in particular in Western democracies.” Beijing’s goal is to “undo the transatlantic link and bring back the Western democracies of Europe”, he explained. According to him, “the extremes are more permeable to destabilizing, from below, political formations in Western Europe”.

In France, the RN remains cautious, left-wing parties demand sanctions

The other parties sitting in Brussels were quick to react. Ally of the AfD in Parliament, the National Rally assured through the voice of its spokesperson, Sébastien Chenu, that it did not know “what was in this file”. Explaining about franceinfo that the RN has “a number of differences with the AfD”he insisted that he had no “no problem sitting with people who have differences with us on their national policy”.

European environmentalists have urged the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, to speed up the investigation into the links between certain deputies and foreign powers. “Autocracies like China and Russia actively seek to undermine our democracies in Europe. This must stop”denounced MP Terry Reintke in a press release. “Politicians who attack the integrity of our democracies must be held to account”she insisted.

For his part, MEP Raphaël Glucksmann, head of the list of French socialists in the European elections, emphasized France 2 that “the extreme right are junk patriots in the service of foreign tyrannies”. “This is not corruption, but betrayal”he asserted.