A German intelligence boss warned, as German Chancellor Angela Merkel arrived on her latest visit to China, that some firms in Europe’s biggest economy face a growing threat from industrial espionage by Chinese government agencies with huge resources.
“Many German Mittelstand companies are easy prey,” Hans-Georg Maassen, head of the BfV domestic intelligence agency, told the Sunday newspaper Welt am Sonntag, referring to the small and medium-sized family firms that are the backbone of the economy.
“They often don’t really know what their crown jewels are or what the other side is interested in,” he told the paper.
“They are up against very powerful adversaries. The Chinese technical intelligence agency alone has over 100,000 employees,” Maassen said, in an excerpt of an interview to be published yesterday, when Merkel began her seventh trip to China.
Beijing rejects US charges it uses cyberespionage to acquire technology to modernize its military.
Former US National Security Agency (NSA) contractor Edward Snowden has leaked documents that purportedly show that the NSA has spied on Chinese companies such as Huawei Technologies.
Trade between Germany and China has been worth about 140 billion euros (US$190 billion) per year for the past three years, but in the first quarter of this year, German exports to China surged by 9.8 percent, according to the German trade organization GTAI.
Merkel arrived in China yesterday for her seventh visit since 2005, with economic ties topping the agenda and a high-powered business delegation in tow.
She touched down in Chengdu, where she met local officials, visited a market and toured a factory operated by German car manufacturer Volkswagen.
Merkel was due to arrive later yesterday in Beijing, where she will wrap up the first day of the three-day visit by meeting Premier Li Keqiang (李克強) for dinner at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse.
Additional reporting by AFP
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