U.S. citizen is arrested in Germany on suspicion of offering military intelligence to China

MUNICH — A U.S. citizen suspected of offering intelligence about the American military to China has been arrested in Frankfurt, German authorities said Thursday. 

Identified only as Martin D. under German privacy law, the federal prosecutors office said in a statement that the suspect “worked for the U.S. armed forces in Germany,” until recently. 

Prosecutors added that, as some point this year, the suspect “contacted Chinese government agencies and offered to provide them with sensitive U.S. military information for forwarding to a Chinese intelligence service.” They did not say when the offer took place. 

The suspect “obtained the information in question during his work with the U.S. armed forces,” prosecutors said, adding that investigators had searched his apartment. 

Later on Thursday, “the accused will be brought before the investigating judge of the Federal Court of Justice,” prosecutors said, adding that the judge “will issue him with the arrest warrant and decide on the execution of pre-trial detention.” 

Germany has warned of an increased risk of espionage from Beijing and arrested a number of people this year on spying charges.

And the latest arrest comes just over a month after a Chinese woman in the eastern city of Leipzig was detained on suspicion of foreign agent activities and passing on information regarding arms deliveries.

The suspect, named in a prosecution statement as Yaqi X., is accused of passing on information obtained while working for a logistics company at Leipzig/Halle airport to a member of the Chinese secret service. 

The information passed along by Yaqi X. in 2023 and this year included flight, cargo and passenger data as well as details on the transportation of military equipment and people with ties to a German arms company, the statement said. 

It added that she gave the information to a second Chinese national, named as Jian G., who is being prosecuted separately. 

Jian G. was working as an aide to Maximilian Krah, a member of the European Parliament for the far-right Alternative for Germany, when he was arrested this year on suspicion of “especially severe” espionage on behalf of Beijing, the prosecutor general said.