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German academic charged with spying for China [www.rte.ie]:

A German political scientist has been charged with spying for China by exploiting high-level official contacts made via his position as the head of a think tank, federal prosecutors have said.

The accused is suspected of "regularly passing on information to Chinese intelligence ahead of or after state visits or multinational conferences" between 2010 and 2019.

He had been running a political think tank since 2001, gaining international importance due to his scientific reputation and networks he had built up over many years, the prosecutors said.

The man was approached by members of a Chinese intelligence service during a lecture tour to Shanghai in June 2010.

The suspect obtained information primarily from his numerous high-ranking political contacts gained through his work, the prosecutors said.

He was allegedly paid for the tips and the Chinese intelligence service are also believed to have arranged for him to travel to the meetings with its officers, including as part of a social programme.

According to a report by German public broadcaster ARD, the 75-year-old led a double life and had also been working as a spy for the German foreign intelligence services (BND).

ARD also said he had previously worked for the Hanns Seidel Foundation, which is close to the CSU, the smaller Bavarian sister party of Chancellor Angela Merkel's CDU.

He was arrested at his home on 23 November 2019, the ARD report said, just as he and his wife were on their way to Munich airport.

They had been due to travel on from Munich to Macau to meet with Chinese intelligence officers there, it said.

The investigators searched the house and the couple's luggage and seized data sticks and computers.

According to the ARD report, the academic worked for the BND for around 50 years, being paid to supply information from the top professional contacts he made in the course of his career.

He started working for the Hanns Seidel Foundation in the early 1980s, often travelling to give guest lectures abroad in countries such as the former Soviet Union and later in Russia, the Balkans, South Africa and South Asia.

When ARD first reported on the case, the foundation said it had "no knowledge whatsoever" of the allegations.

It is unclear whether the Chinese secret service knew about the man's connections to the BND.

At the time of his retirement, the accused was head of the foundation's department for international security policy, according to the ARD report.

After he retired, he carried on working as the director of a specially founded "Institute for Transnational Studies", a kind of think tank, which he operated both from his house in Landshut and from a property in South Tyrol, which also had seminar rooms.

The BND is said to have always sat at the table at the events with international speakers.

The suspect is due to appear before a judge later today.

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