China denies espionage after far-right German lawmaker's aide charged

China on Wednesday rejected allegations that it employed an aide of a far-right German lawmaker, one day after the man was charged with spying for Chinese intelligence.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said in Beijing that speculation over a threat from Chinese espionage was fictitious and malicious.

The comments came after German prosecutors on Tuesday accused the man identified as Jian G, a German citizen who worked for European Parliament lawmaker Maximilian Krah from the Alternative for Germany (AfD), of passing on sensitive information to a Chinese intelligence service.

The man was arrested in the eastern city of Dresden in April 2024 and is said to have obtained more than 500 documents, "including some that the European Parliament had categorized as particularly sensitive."

He is also accused of having spied on Chinese dissidents in Germany.

Shortly after the arrest, German authorities searched Jian G's and Krah's offices in the European Parliament in Brussels.

Guo called on Germany to stop slandering China and said the "good momentum" in relations between the two countries should be maintained.

China has always adhered to the principle of mutual respect in the relationship between the two countries, he argued.