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President of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution Thomas Haldenwang
Photo: Kay Nietfeld / picture alliance / dpa
The President of the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, Thomas Haldenwang, has warned of an increase in Chinese espionage in Germany.
»China is developing wide-ranging spying and influence activities.
We have to be prepared for the fact that these will increase in the coming years," he told the "Welt am Sonntag".
While China's focus used to be on economic espionage, in recent years political spying has also been targeted.
Haldenwang expressed to the newspaper the fear that political influence could also arise from economic dependencies.
"China is pursuing a long-term strategy to implement its goals," said Haldenwang.
»The political leadership is already using its economic power, which also results from intensive relationships with the German and European economy, to implement political goals.«
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As the "Welt am Sonntag" further reports, the Federal Ministry of the Interior currently has no knowledge that Chinese espionage balloons have flown over Germany.
However, it is assumed that Germany is one of China's most important intelligence and influence targets, a spokeswoman said, according to the newspaper.
The overflight of a suspected Chinese espionage balloon over the United States had caused a stir, outrage and new tensions between Washington and Beijing in the past few days.
US President Joe Biden had the balloon shot down by a fighter plane over the Atlantic last week – the balloon was no longer over the mainland at that time.
Regardless of all the political warnings against becoming too dependent, China remained Germany's most important trading partner last year.
Trade between the German economy and China rose to a record level last year: goods worth around 298 billion euros were traded between the two countries.
This is growth of around 21 percent compared to 2021, according to data from the Federal Statistical Office.
Within the federal government, China is increasingly seen as a rival.
The Ministry of Economics is planning extensive requirements for German companies doing business in China and the exclusion of providers from authoritarian states from the critical infrastructure.
The "Internal China Policy Guidelines" that became known at the end of 2022 called for a significant reduction in dependency on China, but rejected complete decoupling from Germany's largest trading partner.
jae/AFP/Reuters
