The trio, named as Herwig F., Ina F. and Thomas R. “are strongly suspected of having worked for a Chinese secret service” at some point before June 2022, the prosecutors said in a statement.
The suspects were arrested in Düsseldorf and Bad Homburg in western Germany and their homes and workplaces were also searched.
Thomas R. is suspected of working as an agent for an employee of the Chinese Ministry of State Security (MSS), obtaining information in Germany on technologies that could be used for military purposes.
He is said to have established contact with Herwig F. and his wife Ina F., who run a company in Düsseldorf, to access such technologies and make contacts in the German scientific and research community.
The company signed an agreement with a German university to provide “knowledge transfer”, the prosecutors said.
The first phase of the project was to prepare a study for a Chinese “contractual partner” on state-of-the-art machine parts used in powerful ship engines, they said.
The contractual partner was the MSS employee that Thomas R. was working for and the project was financed by Chinese state agencies, they said.
At the time of their arrest, the suspects were also allegedly in further negotiations about research projects that could be useful for the expansion of China’s maritime combat capabilities.
The trio is also accused of purchasing a special laser from Germany on behalf of the MSS and exporting it to China without authorisation.
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China executes scientist for spying in 2016, among 10 ‘shocking’ cases revealed in documentary
China executes scientist for spying in 2016, among 10 ‘shocking’ cases revealed in documentary
Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said the government was monitoring what she called a significant threat posed by Chinese espionage in business, industry and science.
“We look very closely at these risks and threats and have clearly warned and raised awareness about them so that protective measures are increased everywhere,” she said in a statement.
In this case, the issue of German innovative technologies that can be used for military purposes was “particularly sensitive”, she added.
London’s Metropolitan Police on Monday said it had charged two men with allegedly spying for China, after a counter-terrorism investigation.
The pair, aged 29 and 32, are accused of breaking the Official Secrets Act 1911 and will appear in court in the British capital on Friday.