Germany and China actually enjoy close and bi-lateral ties, that were actually established formally way back in 1861 when what was then Prussia along with the Qing Empire successfully concluded the important Sino-German treaty.
Today, in an age defined closely by the growing need to multi-alignment between nations as India’s Shashi Tharoor calls it, Germany and China have pulled together strongly forging a bond that’s believed to be a steadfast alignment between two economic powerhouses, one that dominates the entirety of Asia, while the other is called the strongman of Europe.
As a matter of fact, from the context of Europe, Germany has emerged as the largest technology exporter to the dominant land in the Far East, besides being the largest trading partner, ever since 2017. This was to be the year where China and Germany’s trade relation went on to supersede a nation as mighty as the United States. Official figures suggest that this blossoming relationship forged keenly around economics stood at a whopping 100 billion US Dollars, way back in 2008.
There are a whole range of diverse articles that China exports to Germany in huge capacities, such as lighting equipments, electronics and electrical appliances, furniture, boilers and even prefabricated buildings.
One can only imagine that in the decade that has followed, the number would’ve expanded furthermore by soaring to the north. That being said, it is incidences like the German woman caught spying for China that stand to threaten the close bond that the countries enjoy.
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These are the sort of instances that threaten to jeopardise diplomatic ties between two countries that otherwise are close trading allies but, at the same time, are also competitive forces engaged in a systematic rivalry.
And such events can therefore, result in the two countries’ ties hitting a stumbling block, which should, in all instances, be avoided.
So the key question right now is- who is the woman who has been currently caught spying for China, whilst residing in Germany and how did one stumble upon such a shocking development?
First things first, news from German media points to the fact that federal prosecutors in Angela Merkel-land have caught a woman who’s believed to be of German-Italian descent. The key stinker in this case, however, is that the arrest of the German woman by the name of Klara K., is actually linked to the arrest of a German-residing political scientist, who himself had been recently arrested for passing sensitive information about the country to clandestine Chinese sources.
The arrest of the German political scientist, known as Klaus K., happened as of the last month. The convicted man, it came to light rather shockingly, had been spying for China for no fewer than a decade.
And how he was able to pass on sensitive information was primarily through political contacts the German man was able to make by virtue of his association with a think-tank.
Furthermore, here’s what Washington Post had to say on the burning matter that’s stuck Germany in the eye:
At the time of his arrest, German public broadcaster ARD reported that Klaus L., who is in his 70s, had also been an informant for Germany’s foreign intelligence agency, the BND, for half a century. He was well connected with senior officials in the spy agency, according to ARD.
A BND spokesman said that it “does not comment on matters that relate to any intelligence information or activities.”