Tools of hybrid warfare
Kiesewetter fears further espionage cases in Germany
April 23, 2024, 2:30 a.m
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Authorities recently arrested three suspected China spies. The CDU security politician Roderich Kiesewetter sees this as a small success. However, he suspects that there are other undetected cases. He insists on raising awareness.
After the arrest of three Germans for suspected spying for China, CDU security expert Roderich Kiesewetter fears that there will be further undiscovered cases. “Similar to Russia, China also has a real network in politics, business and science and finds people and companies there who make themselves tools for Chinese influence operations and hybrid warfare,” Kiesewetter told the “Handelsblatt”.
The three arrests are “just a start and a small investigative success for the authorities; there will be many more such cases.” Kiesewetter, who as a member of the Bundestag is also vice-chairman of the parliamentary control committee that controls the intelligence services, told the editorial network Germany: “Germany is poorly armed against hybrid attacks, including through intelligence operations, and is very vulnerable. So China has a rather easy time of it in Germany.”
The necessary awareness of the risks of Chinese collaboration is missing, particularly in science and business. The Federal Prosecutor’s Office had three Germans arrested on Monday on suspicion of spying for China.
The two men and a woman are said to have obtained information about military technology in order to pass it on to Chinese intelligence. The two men were taken into custody on Monday. As a spokeswoman for the Federal Prosecutor’s Office announced in the evening, the investigating judge executed the arrest warrants. The arrested woman was due to be brought before the investigating judge at the Federal Court of Justice on Tuesday.