BERLIN: Authorities in Germany are probing whether China maintains an illegal extraterritorial police station in Frankfurt, a spokesperson said, a week before Chancellor Olaf Scholz heads on a contested visit to the economic giant. The Chinese embassy did not respond to a request for comment.
Aspokesperson for interior ministry in German state of Hesse said police and internal security services were checking a report by Spanish activist group Safeguard Defenders, who said China had set up undeclared police offices in 30 countries, including Germany. Confirming an earlier report in the Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper, the spokesperson said that they so far had no indications such facilities existed.
Germany prospered for two decades from China’s insatiable demand for German machine tools, but Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has prompted soulsearching over the longer-term costs of economic ties with authoritarian countries.
Dutch authorities Wednesday said they were probing Chinese offices that were operating illegally in the Netherlands, carrying out tasks like renewing driving licences.
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