Der Spiegel – Jörg Diehl, etc.: “The SPIEGEL revelation of a Chinese intelligence operation in which the Ministry of State Security (MSS) used politicians from right-wing extremist parties for its own purposes has its first consequences. A few hours after the publications of SPIEGEL and its research partners Financial Times and Le Monde, the head of the Belgian party Vlaams Belang (VB) spoke out on the short message service X. There he announced the immediate expulsion of the Belgian ex-parliamentarian Frank Creyelman from the party. According to the research, Creyelman carried out orders from a Chinese intelligence officer for years and apparently had himself paid for it with money and travel… Creyelman’s covert operations for Chinese intelligence emerge from hundreds of text messages obtained by SPIEGEL. Dating from June 2019 to November 2022, they provide a unique insight into the hidden world of China’s most important intelligence agency – and its operations in Europe. A Chinese MSS man under the name Daniel Woo gives orders to the Belgian politician via the chat. They range from gathering information and placing Chinese propaganda in the media to so-called `action tasks.’ Among other things, the Chinese agent would like to see the disruption of events in the European Parliament, the denunciation of scientists critical of China or the submission of questions to the Belgian parliament. He promises to pay between 6000,10 and 000,<> euros per operation, which was apparently paid by means of digital currencies, among other things. In the chat messages, the secret service man and his counterpart talk several times about `our deputies’ whom they want to use for their purposes and goals. This refers to politicians from both the European Parliament and the Bundestag…`China is an authoritarian state that wants to expand its influence worldwide,’ said Anton Hofreiter (Greens), chairman of the European Affairs Committee in the Bundestag. `To this end, the Chinese regime is also making targeted contact with right-wing extremist forces such as the AfD.’ What is needed is `finally an awareness of the wide variety of attacks to which our democracy is exposed’ and `effective measures against the disinformation campaigns from Russia and China,’ Hofreiter said. `The accusation of having exercised parliamentary rights on behalf of and in the interest of the Chinese government is serious and must be clarified immediately,’ said Benjamin Strasser (FDP), Parliamentary State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Justice. Anyone who does such a thing `lays the axe to our open society and is certainly not a political alternative for democrats.’ Strasser calls for an end to naivety: `For years, we have been targeted by disinformation and the influence of authoritarian and dictatorial regimes.’ The goal is obviously to `destroy our liberal democracy and the rule of law…’ The CDU security politician and intelligence controller Roderich Kiesewetter demanded: `We must finally get rid of our naivety towards China and fundamentally change our China policy.’ Even compared to countries such as Russia, Iran and North Korea, the People’s Republic is `the greatest threat to the rules-based order and our liberal democracy.’”
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“A direct threat to democracy”
The Chinese secret service recruited a Belgian right-wing politician, and traces in the affair also lead to the AfD. In Belgium, there are already consequences, German politicians are calling for a realignment of counterintelligence.
Jörg Diehl, Serafin Reiber, Marcel Rosenbach, Fidelius Schmid and Wolf Wiedmann-Schmidt 15.12.2023 DER SPIEGEL
The SPIEGEL revelation of a Chinese intelligence operation in which the Ministry of State Security (MSS) used politicians from right-wing extremist parties for its own purposes has its first consequences. A few hours after the publications of SPIEGEL and its research partners »Financial Times« and »Le Monde«, the head of the Belgian party Vlaams Belang (VB) spoke out on the short message service X. There he announced the immediate expulsion of the Belgian ex-parliamentarian Frank Creyelman from the party.
According to the research, Creyelman carried out orders from a Chinese intelligence officer for years and apparently had himself paid for it with money and travel. “His actions violate the spirit and essence of our party,” wrote VB leader Tom van Grieken.
“I take this very seriously,” Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo commented on the coverage on the sidelines of the European Council in Brussels. “That would mean that some people are sabotaging our prosperity, our security and our democracy from within, as part of a party that sits in our parliament.” This, De Croo continued, shows that the far right is “quite dangerous for our society.”
The Belgian Minister of Justice, Paul Van Tigchelt, also described Creyelman’s behaviour as “unacceptable because it is a direct threat to democracy”.
Creyelman’s covert operations for Chinese intelligence emerge from hundreds of text messages obtained by SPIEGEL. Dating from June 2019 to November 2022, they provide a unique insight into the hidden world of China’s most important intelligence agency – and its operations in Europe.
A Chinese MSS man under the name Daniel Woo gives orders to the Belgian politician via the chat. They range from gathering information and placing Chinese propaganda in the media to so-called “action tasks”. Among other things, the Chinese agent would like to see the disruption of events in the European Parliament, the denunciation of scientists critical of China or the submission of questions to the Belgian parliament. He promises to pay between 6000,10 and 000,<> euros per operation, which was apparently paid by means of digital currencies, among other things.
In the chat messages, the secret service man and his counterpart talk several times about “our deputies” whom they want to use for their purposes and goals. This refers to politicians from both the European Parliament and the Bundestag.
In one of the assignments on political influence, the Chinese linked, as an example, to a minor inquiry that AfD parliamentarian Stefan Keuter introduced into the Bundestag in spring 2021. It was about the unrest in Hong Kong and an alleged wave of entry by allegedly violent activists of the democracy movement there.
“Last year, we put pressure on the German government to show its violence and its immigration goals,” the Chinese agent wrote, referring to the dissidents in the chat with the Belgian. He asks whether it is possible for Creyelman to copy this “AfD case” in Flanders or in the Belgian parliament. About two months later, the Belgian politician’s brother, a member of the Belgian parliament, actually submitted a question on this topic, with questions that were in part identical to those in the AfD question.
In view of the revelations, Reinhard Bütikofer, China expert for the Greens in the European Parliament, suspects a system: “No one should assume that the well-known recruitment of a right-wing Belgian parliamentarian for Chinese influence operations could have been an isolated case.”
“Open security risk for the Federal Republic of Germany”
“The accusation of having exercised parliamentary rights on behalf of and in the interest of the Chinese government is serious and must be clarified immediately,” said Benjamin Strasser (FDP), Parliamentary State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Justice. Anyone who does such a thing “lays the axe to our open society and is certainly not a political alternative for democrats.”
Strasser calls for an end to naivety: “For years, we have been targeted by disinformation and the influence of authoritarian and dictatorial regimes.” The goal is obviously to “destroy our liberal democracy and the rule of law.”
“China is an authoritarian state that wants to expand its influence worldwide,” said Anton Hofreiter (Greens), chairman of the European Affairs Committee in the Bundestag. “To this end, the Chinese regime is also making targeted contact with right-wing extremist forces such as the AfD.” What is needed is “finally an awareness of the wide variety of attacks to which our democracy is exposed” and “effective measures against the disinformation campaigns from Russia and China,” Hofreiter said.
FDP parliamentary group vice-chairman Konstantin Kuhle described the AfD’s actions as an “open security risk for the Federal Republic” The fact that the party had apparently used the opposition rights in the Bundestag “as a middleman” for China was “a new and particularly perfidious form of infiltration,” Kuhle said. He called on the Bundestag administration to examine “the extent to which inquiries submitted on behalf of foreign powers can be rejected.”
“Compliant lackeys for the interests of Russia and China”: “From Moscow to Beijing, it is well known that whether for payment, for a travel invitation or for a wet handshake — the AfD consists of compliant lackeys for the interests of Russia and China,” the FDP interior expert continued. The goal of these states is “the destabilization of open societies so that their own authoritarian political order model is better off in comparison.”
For Sebastian Fiedler, a member of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), the reports on the espionage affair and its links to the AfD show “that the self-proclaimed patriots are in fact enemies of the state.” Politicians of the far-right party participated as “stooges of China and Russia” in “undermining and destabilizing our democratic constitutional state,” Fiedler said.
The CDU security politician and intelligence controller Roderich Kiesewetter demanded: “We must finally get rid of our naivety towards China and fundamentally change our China policy.” Even compared to countries such as Russia, Iran and North Korea, the People’s Republic is “the greatest threat to the rules-based order and our liberal democracy.”
Call for a realignment of counterintelligence: China could “count on the support of right-wing and left-wing parties,” whose deputies the Communists use “specifically as instruments in hybrid war,” Kiesewetter continued. The German intelligence services should “focus on the undermining of our order by elected representatives in the parliaments,” he demanded. For the CDU politician, one thing is certain: “Just as there is a connection to Russia, China also has its connection in German politics, business, science and society.”
Konstantin von Notz, vice-chairman of the Green Party’s parliamentary group, said the security authorities had long warned “against strategically pursued espionage from and through China.” Whether it’s far-reaching industrial espionage, attacks on critical infrastructures or attacks on the freedom of science,” he added, calling for a “realignment and strengthening of counterintelligence.” This is urgently needed “also and especially with regard to China”, said von Notz. The Green politician is chairman of the parliamentary control committee in the Bundestag, which oversees the intelligence services.
Cartoon from the Spectator
