Alternative for Germany (AfD) is in trouble. Numbers one and two on the European list of the far-right party have dubious ties with China and Russia. An employee of party leader Maximilian Krah (47) was arrested by the police on Tuesday night on suspicion of espionage for China.
When Krah became a Member of the European Parliament in 2019, he hired Jian G. as an ‘accredited employee’. Jian G. is said to have passed on information to China about European discussions about protecting critical infrastructure against Chinese influence and the position to be taken on the prosecution of the Fulan Gong movement. He is also said to have collected information about Chinese dissidents in Germany. The European Parliament has temporarily suspended Jian G., pending stricter measures.
Heavy
“Espionage for a foreign power is a serious accusation,” Krah wrote in a press release. He promised to immediately fire Jian G. if the suspicions were correct. He could not be reached for comment yesterday.
When Krah was introduced as party leader last year, AfD could have known that there would be problems. Krah stood out for his pro-China stance. He believed that Germany, Russia and China should join forces to counterbalance America. His employee in Brussels built up a German-Chinese network and organized visits by European politicians to China. Based on my own research T-online in March that Chinese money was paid to European confidants via the network. Krah could explain all that at the time and saw no conflict of interest.
Misunderstanding
In the meantime, it is also being investigated whether he received money from Russia. When he wanted to travel to New York last December, he was removed from the queue by the FBI because of his chats with the Ukrainian, pro-Russian politician Oleg Voloshin. “The problem with the compensations has been resolved. In May it will be like before February again,” said one chat. It is suspected that this concerns payments, but Krah resolutely dismisses that suspicion: a misunderstanding.
Krah has given some interviews to Voice of Europe, a Russian propaganda outlet based in Prague. He says he wasn’t paid for it, but Petr Bystron claims that too. Bystron is number two on the AfD list. Unfortunately for him, the Czech government says audio recordings confirm the payment. Belgium has started a judicial investigation.
Innocence
In short: AfD will go to the European elections on June 9 with two men suspected of pro-Russian or pro-Chinese activities: two countries against which Europe wants to arm itself. So far, the party leadership has not felt called to publicly distance itself from them. The presumption of innocence remains intact, said Tino Chrupalla, one of the two party chairmen about Bystron, a few days ago. That was no different for Krah yesterday.
Today Wednesday he is expected at the party board to explain. Bystron could count on leniency after such a visit. For the time being, because Chrupalla thought last weekend that Bystron could resign if the accusations were justified. The other co-chair, Alice Weidl, yesterday called the accusations against Krah “very serious”. The party leadership seems to be distancing itself. At Image said an anonymous member of the AfD board that Krah has now become a real problem for the party.
Misery
It’s misery there at the AfD headquarters. The party wanted to profile itself in the campaign as a peace party that does not want Ukraine to join the EU. That is something different from aligning itself with dictatorial states that want to undermine European values and institutions.
Tags: AfD party leader European elections employed Chinese spy
