British and German police separately charged or arrested five people for alleged spying for China and technology theft.
British police on Monday charged two men, aged 32 and 29, with providing damaging information to China, allegedly in breach of the Official Secrets Act.
They will appear in court on Friday, the Crown Prosecution Service said in a statement.
“This has been an extremely complex investigation into very serious allegations,” said Commander Dominic Murphy, head of the Metropolitan Police’s counter-terrorism command.
There has been growing anxiety about China’s alleged spy activity in Britain, particularly after it emerged last year that a parliamentary investigator was arrested on suspicion of spying for China.
The government then said Chinese spies are targeting British officials in sensitive positions in politics, defense and business as part of an increasingly sophisticated spy operation to gain access to secrets.
Three Germans have also been arrested on suspicion of working with the Chinese secret service to deliver technology that could be used for military purposes, potentially helping to strengthen China’s navy, German officials said Monday.
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Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said the government was monitoring what she called a significant threat posed by Chinese espionage in business, industry and science.
“We are watching these risks and threats very closely and have clearly warned and raised awareness about them so that protective measures are increased everywhere,” he said in a statement.
In this case, the issue of innovative German technologies that can be used for military purposes was “particularly sensitive,” he added.
The arrests came a week after Chancellor Olaf Scholz traveled to China to press Beijing over its support for Russia’s wartime economy and raise issues of intellectual property theft and fair market access.
Justice Minister Marco Buschmann said in a statement: “At the time of their arrest, the defendants were in further negotiations on research projects that could be particularly useful in expanding China’s maritime combat power.”
The Chinese Foreign Ministry and the Chinese embassy in Berlin did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Prosecutors identified the suspects as Herwig F. and Ina F., a married couple who run a company in Dusseldorf, and Thomas R., described by prosecutors as an agent of an unidentified employee of the Ministry of State Security (MSS). from China.
The couple signed a cooperation agreement with a German university through their company, in which a study was prepared for the MSS employee on machine parts that can be used in marine engines, for example on warships, according to the prosecutor’s office in a statement.
The suspects also purchased a special laser from Germany in the name and payment of the MSS, and exported it to China without authorization, according to prosecutors, who did not specify what the laser could be used for.
The arrests were made based on information collected by Germany’s domestic intelligence agency, prosecutors said.
Last week, Germany arrested two Russian-German citizens on suspicion of spying for Russia. They were said to have planned sabotage attacks aimed at undermining Germany’s military support for Ukraine in its war against Russia.