AfD Lead Candidate Attacks Western Paranoia on China
MEP Maximilian Krah Refuses to Quit Election Race
Assistant Arrested on Charges of Spying for Beijing
The lead candidate for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) in the upcoming European Parliament elections has attacked what he called Western paranoia about China.
MEP Maximilian Krah said in a statement on Wednesday that the arrest of his staff member, Jian Guo, was "a political witch hunt" and that the charges against Guo were "fabricated."
Guo was arrested on Monday by German police on suspicion of spying for the Chinese government. The German federal prosecutor's office said in a statement that Guo is accused of passing on information about the AfD to Chinese intelligence officers.
Krah said that he would not fire Guo and that he would continue to work with him. He said that the charges against Guo were "a smear campaign" by the German government and the media.
The AfD is a far-right party that has been accused of having ties to neo-Nazi groups. The party has been gaining support in Germany in recent years, amid growing concerns about immigration and the European Union.
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