A Chinese-born parliamentary assistant to German MEP Maximilian Krah (Alternative für Deutschland) was arrested on suspicion of espionage—acting as an agent for the Chinese secret service—by German police in Dresden Monday night on orders of the Federal Prosecutor’s Office. The 43-year-old AfD employee named by the prosecutors as ‘Jian G.’ is alleged to have been working for the Chinese secret service and has worked for Mr. Krah in the European Parliament since 2019. Krah, the AfD’s lead candidate for the upcoming European elections, has reportedly known Mr. G. since 2014 through business connections. Jian Guo is listed as Krah’s accredited parliamentary assistant on the European Parliament website.
Federal authorities allege that Mr. G. is an asset of the Chinese state employed to obtain information on the European Parliament and anti-CCP opposition figures resident within Germany. From the prosecutor’s press release:
In January 2024, the accused repeatedly passed on information about negotiations and decisions in the European Parliament to his intelligence client. He also spied on Chinese opposition figures in Germany for the intelligence service.
Allegations of suspicious behaviour against Jian Guo were first reported by The European Conservative in April of last year, with party colleagues drawing attention to the assistant’s aggressive pro-CCP lobbying, lack of proficient English and German language skills, business connections, and habit of giving outlandish gifts.
Mr. Guo, who has worked as an “import-export entrepreneur,” had previously come to the attention of other press for his simultaneous liaisons with both Chinese opposition groups and business work that included lobbying foreign governments to take pro-CCP stances.
Worryingly, according to Die Zeit, Mr. G. is reported to have come to the attention of federal authorities after he “offered himself to the German security authorities as an informant more than ten years ago” but was turned down due to fears he could act as a double agent for the Chinese state.
In response to a request for comment from The European Conservative last year regarding Mr. Guo and claims from co-workers of Guo’s suspicious activity, Mr. Krah dismissed the allegations as a “political witch hunt against him,” describing how he hadn’t the “slightest reason to suspect him of being an “intelligence asset.”
Following yesterday’s arrest, Krah has changed his tone, describing in a statement sent to The European Conservative that he had only learned about the arrest through the media and that “spying for a foreign state is a serious accusation” and would result in the termination of Mr. G.’s contract if proven.
I learned about the arrest of the member of my staff, Jian Guo, from the press this morning. I don’t have any additional information. Spying for a foreign state is a serious accusation. If the allegations prove true, it will result in the immediate termination of Mr. Guo’s employment with me.
This statement is in stark contrast to the statement the German MEP gave last April when he blamed “blatant racism” for the “hounding” of the Chinese aide.
In response to a request for comment from The European Conservative, AfD MEP Nicolaus Fest said:
Almost exactly one year ago I commented publicly on the questionable pro-Chinese voting of Mr. Krah in the EP and the dubious connections of Mr. Guo with the CCP. I concluded: “No smoke without fire.”
Now, this fire has become a full-grown forest fire and it is not only a problem for Mr. Krah. Both speakers of the AfD had been warned time and again. This fire is their fire!”
Liberals within the EU Parliament were quick to jump on the news of the arrest, with German Green Terry Reintke calling for a fast-tracked probe into the matter before June’s elections amid debate this week about the influence of Chinese technology companies and allegations of forced labour at a plenary session in Strasbourg.
Additional stories on alleged Chinese espionage within Germany have hit the news this week with the arrest of three German nationals for supplying military secrets to Beijing, alongside similar arrests in the UK this week of two suspected spies for China, one working as an aide to a British parliamentarian.
