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Germany is under attack from China, a senior German opposition MP has warned, as Berlin grapples with a fresh wave of cyber attacks and espionage plots.
Roderich Kiesewetter, the crisis prevention spokesman for the centre-Right Christian Democratic Union (CDU), said Germans needed to stop thinking of China as a “partner”.
“Many in Germany are turning a blind eye … China is no longer a partner, but a systemic rival that is attacking us,” Mr Kiesewetter, a former colonel in the Bundeswehr, told The Telegraph.
“Germany is at the centre of Chinese hybrid influence operations in Europe – it uses all the tools in its toolbox; espionage, sabotage, lawfare, repression and disinformation,” added Mr Kiesewetter, who is also the deputy chairman of the German parliament’s intelligence committee.
His comments are a major intervention in Germany, where China wields immense influence over the economy despite rising tensions over Beijing’s tacit support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and apparent plans to invade Taiwan.
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