A Chinese national arrested from a German naval base earlier this month could be charged with spying, prosecutors said on Wednesday.
The man was found carrying a camera near the base in Kiel, a port city on Germany’s Baltic Sea coast, on 9 December, public broadcaster WDR reported.
“We have an open investigation into a Chinese man who was found on the territory of the marine port," said Carola Jeschke, criminal investigation department spokesperson in the northern state of Schleswig-Holstein.
Prosecutors said they were considering charges of taking security-endangering pictures of military installations against the foreigner.
This comes at a time when Germany is on alert for potential security threats posed by China. The country’s security agencies have warned of an increased threat from Chinese intelligence services.
Kiel houses one of the German navy’s three flotillas and a dry dock where Thyssenkrupp Marine Systems builds submarines.
Last year, Kiel cancelled a plan for a twin city partnership with the Chinese military port of Qingdao after researchers warned that it could serve as a cover for espionage.
China, moreover, has deepened its strategic partnership with ally Russia despite Western pressure to isolate Moscow over the war in Ukraine.
In October, Germany took over command of the Nato task force in the Baltic Sea, which is crisscrossed by fuel pipelines and fibre optic cables that have been severed since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Germany’s defence minister said last month they had to assume that damage caused to two date cables under the Baltic Sea, one of which ends in his country, was caused by sabotage even though Berlin had no proof yet.
“No one believes these cables were severed by mistake and I also don’t want to believe versions that it was anchors that by chance caused damage to these cables,” he said at a meeting of EU defence ministers.
