The assistant of the former AfD top candidate Maximilian Krah is said to have spied on arms deliveries for China. He apparently had an informant at Leipzig Airport.
Jian G. has been in custody for months for suspected espionage for China: As an assistant to top AfD politician Maximilian Krah, he is said to have passed on information from the EU Parliament to Chinese intelligence services. He also spied on the Chinese exile opposition. The Federal Prosecutor General assumes that the case is particularly serious.
Now it turns out: The case is probably much bigger than previously known. Jian G. is considered by investigators to be an employee of the Chinese secret service and is said to have also had at least one female agent as a source. On Monday, the Federal Criminal Police Office in Leipzig arrested the Chinese woman Yaqi X., whose full name is known to t-online. Pretrial detention was ordered.
According to information from the editorial team, X. worked for a logistics subsidiary of Mitteldeutsche Flughafen AG, for which she traveled to China, among other places. Her workplace was searched, as was her apartment in Leipzig. When contacted by t-online, a spokesman for Mitteldeutsche Flughafen AG confirmed that the company fully supports the work of the authorities.
According to the Federal Prosecutor General, X. transmitted information about flights, cargo and passengers at the airport to her agent leader G. in Krah’s Brussels office for months starting in August 2023. In particular, she reported on the transport of military equipment and people related to German defense companies. Leipzig Airport is considered an important transshipment point for German arms exports, not just to Ukraine.
The new turn in the espionage affair may also cast other contacts of Jian G. in a new light: t-online had already reported extensively on the suspicious activities in October 2023, more than half a year before G.’s arrest. These included joint secret service contacts with Krah, joint lobbying activities for China, money payments from China via companies in G.’s immediate private environment and G.’s conspicuous activities in the exiled opposition.
According to his own statements, Krah served as a lawyer for at least one of the companies associated with the payments for years. That’s how he first met G., he told t-online. The public prosecutor’s office in Dresden is currently examining whether initial suspicion could arise against Krah because of the payments. According to press reports, G.’s corporate network plays a crucial role.
According to t-online research, one of the business partners was involved in joint lobbying activities for China. At the same time, she ran a German-Chinese propaganda portal that repeatedly shed particularly positive light on Krah and the AfD. Krah has now separated from his assistant and vehemently emphasized that he had no knowledge of his alleged secret service activities.
