2024-05-02 23:01:50
The AfD and its top candidate for the European elections are trying out a supposed way out of the espionage scandal: the Office for the Protection of the Constitution is said to want to harm the party. However, the excuses are implausible.
The AfD has been on a downward trend for months, and now an espionage affair is putting the party in further trouble. A long-time client and employee of Maximilian Krah, the top candidate for the European elections, is in custody. The Federal Prosecutor General accuses him of acting as a secret service agent in a particularly serious case. He is said to have worked for a Chinese secret service.
Since then, the party has been struggling with the allegations and there is great nervousness. The AfD usually sits out scandals. But entanglements with the Communist Party in China go too far, even for parts of the board and the rank and file. For this reason, Krah has long been criticized within his own ranks. In order to save the European election campaign – which is also overshadowed by suspicions of possible payments from Russia to candidate number two on the list, Peter Bystron – they are struggling to find a communication strategy.
It now seems to have been found: the espionage scandal is to be reinterpreted as a constitutional protection scandal. Krah himself and party officials say he had no suspicions and was not warned. Jian G. is even said to have been infiltrated by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution in order to harm the AfD.
But the communication strategy is not plausible. Only those who are willing to hide central information can follow it. The four most important claims at a glance.
Claim 1: Krah was not suspicious
Almost seven months before Jian G.’s arrest, t-online reported in detail about Krah’s connections to China and Jian G.’s dubious role for her. In accordance with journalistic standards, t-online presented both Krah and G. with a detailed catalog of questions in advance for their comments at the end of September and provided information about the central results of the months-long research.
The article published on October 1, 2023 then described Krah and G.’s contacts with the secret service IDCPC on the trips to China organized by G. for Krah. The article documented Krah’s lobbying efforts by his assistant for the New Silk Road. And he documented simultaneous payments from China into G.’s close private environment and conflicts of interest in his political work for Krah.
In addition, he used photo evidence to reveal that G. had been active in the exiled Chinese opposition for many years – shortly before his trips with Krah. A central suspicion, because the dissidents have to fear political persecution even in Germany and in most cases have not been able to travel to China for many decades.
The fact that G. was active at a high level in her circles and did business with China for years, traveled there again and again and maintained contacts with the Communist Party both while there and in Brussels for Krah, was seen as a frightening alarm signal among the opposition.
But not for Krah: he subsequently commented several times. On the news platform
In a video column published two weeks later for the AfD-affiliated “Deutschland Kurier” he followed up and denied his long-standing relationship of trust with Jian G.: “It’s time for a confession: I know someone who knows someone who knows someone , who did business in China. This statement was worth a long article on t-online (…) The smear campaign is finished.”
To contradict himself just one day later in an interview with “Brussels Signal”: G. is a “real asset” and “competitive advantage”; he maintains contacts with the Chinese representation in the EU Parliament for him. G. be very honest with him. He ended his work for the Chinese opposition at Krah’s request.