German investigators arrested a married couple in Munich on Wednesday on suspicion of conducting espionage on behalf of a Chinese intelligence service. The Federal Prosecutor's Office in Karlsruhe confirmed that the suspects had been targeting militarily useful information from the high-tech sector. According to the Federal Prosecutor's Office, the couple allegedly posed at times as interpreters and employees of an automotive supplier in order to establish contacts with specialists at universities and research institutions.
The suspects are German citizens, identified by the authorities as Xuejun C. and Hua S. The Federal Prosecutor's Office stated that they collected "scientific information about militarily useful high technology." To this end, they were in contact with university chairs and other experts in fields such as aerospace engineering, artificial intelligence, and computer science. The authorities did not disclose the ages of the accused.
According to the Federal Prosecutor's Office, some of the affected researchers were lured to China under the guise of paid lectures before what they were told would be a civilian audience. "In reality, such lectures were then delivered before employees of state-owned defence companies," the Federal Prosecutor's Office stated. The couple faces charges of intelligence agent activity. Their residences and workplaces were searched.
The arrested suspects were transported to Karlsruhe on the same day, where they were to be brought before an investigating judge at the Federal Court of Justice. The judge will decide on the imposition of pre-trial detention.
In parallel, law enforcement officers carried out operations involving ten individuals who are not suspects but are considered potential witnesses. These unspecified "measures" were conducted at various locations across the six federal states of Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg, Brandenburg, Berlin, North Rhine-Westphalia, and Lower Saxony, according to the Federal Prosecutor's Office. No further details were provided.
The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution and the Bavarian State Criminal Police Office were also involved in the investigation, according to the Karlsruhe-based authority. The domestic intelligence agency has been warning for years about extensive Chinese espionage activities.
According to the agency, China seeks to use illegally obtained know-how to gain technological advantages in key future industries such as robotics, medical technology, aerospace, and information technology. China is pursuing a declared long-term strategy of becoming the world's strongest economic power.
Germany's high-tech industry association Bitkom also identifies China, alongside Russia, as a principal actor in economic espionage and cyberattacks targeting Germany. According to a study published by the association in September, 46 percent, nearly half, of German companies affected by such incidents were able to trace the perpetrators back to China. The total damage caused by analogue and digital attacks on companies rose to approximately 289 billion euros.
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