The alleged spy, named by prosecutors as Jian G., is suspected of working with Chinese intelligence since 2002, including while he was an aide to the Alternative for Germany (AfD) MEP Maximilian Krah between 2019 and 2024.
"We urge the German side to stop smearing and vilifying China, and to take concrete actions to uphold the positive momentum in the development of bilateral relations," foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said.
"The so-called 'China espionage threat' is purely fabricated and malicious slander," Guo said, adding China "has always upheld the principles of mutual respect".
Krah was the party's top candidate in last year's European elections, but was excluded from its delegation after comments in which he minimised the crimes of the Nazis' notorious SS.
Krah has since been welcomed back into the AfD fold and was elected as an MP in the German parliament in February's snap general election.
Prosecutors said Jian G., a German national, used his job as Krah's assistant to "gather information on the deliberations and decisions of the European parliament" for Chinese intelligence, including "procuring more than 500 documents, some of which had been classified as particularly sensitive".
He is also suspected of gathering intelligence on leading AfD politicians and spying on Chinese dissidents in Germany.
This included posing as an opponent of the Chinese government on social media in order to gain contacts in the opposition scene.
The European Parliament, which had listed Jian Guo as an accredited assistant to Krah, moved to suspend the aide after his arrest in April 2024.
Prosecutors said a Chinese national named as Yaqi X. has also been charged with helping Jian G. to access information on flights and passengers at Leipzig Airport.
She worked at a company which provided the airport with logistics services.
The information she passed on focused on flights transporting defence equipment and "people with links to a German arms company".
At the time of her arrest in October, news site Der Spiegel reported that Yaqi X. had in particular targeted the arms giant Rheinmetall, which is involved in making Leopard tanks and which uses Leipzig airport for cargo flights.
Krah's various scandals have not dampened his political fortunes -- or indeed those of the AfD more widely.
In February's election the party had its best-ever performance, doubling its vote share to more than 20 percent and becoming the second-biggest group in parliament, with 152 seats out of a total of 630.
Facing Trump, Microsoft vows to protect Europeans' data
Brussels, Belgium (AFP) April 30, 2025 -
Microsoft on Wednesday committed to boosting its presence in Europe and protecting European citizens' data against a backdrop of rising "geopolitical volatility".
The tech titan's pledges come as the return of President Donald Trump has upended the relationship between the United States and Europe, reversing decades of US policy.
Trump has taken umbrage over the European Union's rules against Big Tech -- dominated by US giants including Microsoft -- threatening retaliation against any moves.
But Microsoft President Brad Smith struck a positive note during a visit to Brussels.
"We are at a moment in time when business needs to be a bridge across the Atlantic," Smith said.
Microsoft is expanding its data centre operations in 16 European countries and help build an artificial intelligence "ecosystem" on the continent.
It also wants to establish partnerships with European cloud players. Currently, US tech firms -- Amazon, Google and Microsoft -- dominated the cloud market in Europe.
But Europe's dependence on US tech has been called into question since Trump's return and threats to impose tariffs, take over Greenland and cut support for Ukraine.
The worry is that Washington could use its tech dominance as a weapon in any standoff with Brussels if transatlantic ties, already strained, deteriorate further.
For example, Europeans worry access to US servers could possibly be cut if Trump, whose ties with tech titans have grown, opted to use this leverage.
Microsoft's Smith alluded to this scenario in a blog post published on Wednesday without ever naming Trump, describing it as "unlikely" to occur.
But, Smith vowed, if Microsoft was asked to suspend or cease cloud operations in Europe, it would "promptly and vigorously contest such a measure".
"We are committing today that if any government anywhere in the world ever issues an order that seeks to compel Microsoft to suspend or cease operations and support for Europe out of our data centres here, we will go to court," Smith said in Brussels.
"We appreciate that it is a real concern of people across Europe," he added.
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