German prosecutors have dropped a high-profile probe into a former EU diplomat accused of spying for China after failing to find any evidence, media reported Wednesday.

The federal prosecution office in Karlsruhe had opened the investigation in January, with police raiding homes and offices linked to the main suspect and two other people in Brussels, Berlin and other places in Germany.

The trio were accused of espionage for the Chinese government.

Although never officially named, media quickly identified the German diplomat at the centre of the probe as Gerhard Sabathil, who served as EU ambassador to South Korea in 2015-2016.

He has always denied any wrongdoing and may be eligible to claim compensation from the state over the probe now that the case is closed, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported.

Federal prosecutors were not immediately available for comment but DPA news agency quoted a spokesman who confirmed that the investigation had been dropped for lack of evidence.

Sabathil ended his EU career in 2017 and switched to a well-known lobby firm, where he worked with the two other people targeted in the probe. They are also no longer under suspicion.

Sabathil told the FAZ that he considered himself the victim of "a global character assassination" after news of the probe against him made international headlines.

He said he believes US intelligence services contacted their German counterparts about him because he took on Huawei as a client at the lobby firm.

The United States claims that Chinese tech giant Huawei has close ties to China's government and military and that its equipment could be used by Beijing for espionage.

Both the Chinese government and Huawei strongly deny the accusation and say the US has never produced evidence to back up the allegations.

Washington has put pressure on allies to exclude Huawei from playing a role in building up their countries' 5G mobile networks, although Germany has yet to announce such a ban.

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