Jitters about alleged Chinese spying have mounted across Western Europe in recent months. Tensions between Beijing and Western powers over espionage have been rising as Western intelligence agencies increasingly sound the alarm on Chinese state-backed hacking activity. China has also begun in recent years to call out alleged Western hacking operations.
Following is a rundown of notable recent cases in Europe.
GERMANY
April 23 - German prosecutors said a man they named as Jian G. had been arrested on suspicion of passing information about discussions in the European Union legislature to Chinese intelligence. The website of Maximilian Krah, the top candidate of the German far-right AfD party in June's election to the assembly, lists Jian Guo as one of his assistants. Krah said he had learned of Guo's arrest from the media and would stop working with him if the charges were proven.
Jian G, who lived in Brussels and the German city of Dresden, also spied on Chinese opposition figures in Germany, prosecutors said. "He is accused of an especially severe case of working for a foreign secret service," a statement said.
Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said that if the charges were proven, it was "an attack on European democracy from within". Germany had massively increased counterespionage, she said, due to Russian hybrid threats and Chinese snooping.
The Chinese embassy did not immediately reply on Tuesday to requests for comment. In Beijing, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said reports of Chinese espionage in Europe were "hype" and "intended to discredit and suppress China".
April 22 - Germany's Justice Ministry said three Germans had been arrested on suspicion of working with the Chinese secret service to hand over technology that could be used for military purposes, in particular Beijing's navy.
In response to those arrests, the Chinese embassy in Berlin said Beijing firmly rejected accusations that it carried out such espionage in Germany.
BRITAIN
The pair, aged 32 and 29, were charged with providing prejudicial information to China in breach of Britain's Official Secrets Act and are to appear in court on Friday.
Commander Dominic Murphy, head of the Counter Terrorism Command at the Metropolitan Police, said the investigation had been "extremely complex" and the allegations "very serious".
Beijing's embassy in London said the allegation that China was trying to steal British intelligence was "completely fabricated".
Both Britain and the United States imposed sanctions on a firm they said was a Chinese Ministry of State Security front company tied to a cyberespionage campaign that allegedly hit millions of people including lawmakers, academics and journalists, and companies including defence contractors.
NETHERLANDS
"China wants to be independent from Western knowledge and technology (and) wants to build a military that can match any other," the MIVD report said. "To do so, it needs advanced technology it doesn't yet fully possess. It tries to get this abroad, using legal means such as research and investments, but also through its intelligence agencies."
BELGIUM
Dec. 20, 2023 - Belgian Prime Minister Alexandre de Croo described China as a "sometimes very hostile" country after allegations Beijing had recruited a member of the Belgian far-right party Vlaams Belang as an intelligence asset. The leader of Vlaams Belang, which favours Flemish independence, expelled the party member in question over the allegations.
POLAND
2019 - Poland arrested a former Polish intelligence agent and an ex-employee of Chinese technology giant Huawei on suspicion of spying for Beijing. Their trial began in 2021 but was closed to the public.
