Plus: World's longest anthem
IN TODAY’S EDITION
1️⃣ Europe moves against China’s spies |
2️⃣ Argentina wants to arrest an Iranian minister |
3️⃣ The world’s longest anthem |
Hi Intriguer. If you’re D.C.-based, join me for International Intrigue IRL 💡 this evening, 6:00 PM ET at the popular DC spot, Immigrant Food. Come meet the Intrigue team, engage with like-minded folks, and hear from bestselling author Jack Beaumont.
Jack, a former intelligence operative turned author, will discuss (and sign copies of) his gripping new novel, Dark Arena: The Frenchman Returns. We’re almost full so if you’d like to join us, register here – we’d love to see you!
And speaking of spies… today’s briefing leads with the latest spying scandals out of Europe.
US Senate passes foreign aid package.
The Senate has passed (79-18) the $95B emergency aid package to deliver security assistance to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. US assistance to Ukraine, including longer-range missile systems for the first time, could reach its destination as early as this week. In addition to sanctions on Iran and Russia, the package also gives TikTok’s China-based parent company an ultimatum: sell the social media platform (one of the world’s most popular), or see it banned in the US some time early next year. President Biden is expected to sign the package shortly.
UN calls for investigation into Gaza mass graves.
The UN has called for “a clear, transparent and credible investigation” after two mass graves were reported at two Gazan hospitals. Israeli officials say the IDF exhumed bodies near one of the hospitals in search of hostages. Referring to the same hospital, Palestinian authorities have accused Israeli troops of killing and burying detainees. Details are still emerging, including around the second hospital.
Top Russian official accused of corruption.
Timur Ivanov, a Russian deputy defence minister, has been detained on suspicion of accepting bribes "on a particularly large scale". In 2022, the Anti-Corruption Foundation (founded by the late opposition figure Alexei Navalny) accused him of profiting off Russia’s reconstruction of the occupied Ukrainian city of Mariupol, much of which was destroyed during Russia’s invasion.
Hong Kong IPOs are flopping.
A China-based AI firm’s stock has plunged over 20% on its first day of trading on the Hong Kong stock exchange, making it the city’s third weak IPO this week. On Tuesday, a bubble tea maker (🧋) and a builder faced a similar fate. Hong Kong has been the worst-performing market in Asia this year, according to Goldman Sachs.
Argentinians protest against university cuts.
Hundreds of thousands of locals took to the streets yesterday (Tuesday) to protest against budget cuts at public universities. President Javier Milei came to power pledging to reverse Argentina’s economic decline by (among other things) slashing government spending. But the leading University of Buenos Aires is warning it could soon be forced to shut down, leaving 380,000 students stranded mid-degree.
TOP STORY
Europe moves against suspected Chinese spies
In the space of just two days, authorities across Europe have moved against six suspects accused of spying for China.
Here’s what you need to know, and why:
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The UK, on Monday
UK prosecutors announced charges against two men for “providing prejudicial information” to China. One has worked as a researcher in parliament and was involved in the ‘China Research Group’ founded by China-wary Tory MPs. The other works in marketing. Both UK nationals (aged 29 and 32) have lived in China.
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Germany, also on Monday
The same day, German police arrested (🇩🇪) three German nationals believed to have shared information on “militarily usable innovative technologies” – plus an advanced laser – with China’s lead intelligence agency, the Ministry of State Security (MSS). The suspects allegedly used a fake company in London, financed by the MSS, to trick targets.
Also on Monday, a joint investigation by German media uncovered a massive hacking operation against Volkswagen, with China-based hackers allegedly pilfering 19,000 documents on EV, transmission, and engine tech.
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Germany, on Tuesday
Then yesterday (Tuesday), German authorities arrested (🇩🇪) an adviser to an EU lawmaker from Germany, after identifying the suspect as “an employee of a Chinese secret service”. He’s accused of sharing information about key EU deliberations, and spying on Beijing’s critics.
Prosecutors say he’s a dual German-Chinese citizen who offered to spy for Germany a decade ago (the Germans feared he was a double agent); he’s also allegedly posed as a Chinese dissident to glean information from actual dissidents in exile.
So that’s a big 48 hours.
While none of the suspects have been found guilty and some are already denying the charges, it’s still a lot of bad PR for China, which has responded by accusing the West of “hyping up” the accusations to harm the People’s Republic.
The initial British details first emerged last year, and came after public warnings that China was "prolifically and aggressively" targeting the UK.
As for the new German cases, they likewise come after some pretty frank official warnings last year. But the timing is still awkward, coming just days after Chancellor Olaf Scholz paid his third visit to China in three years, flanked by CEOs and hoping that more exports to China might offer a way out of recession.
And this awkward timing highlights the bind that Germany now finds itself in: potential economic dependence on a country it’s described as a “systemic rival”.
INTRIGUE’S TAKE
Germany, like others before it, has long looked at China’s vast market as a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. But Germany, like others before it, is now waking up to the realisation that maybe China was looking right back all along.
And Germany’s presumed decision to wait until Scholz got home before revealing this week’s charges is interesting – it suggests Scholz still holds out hope that Germany can tap that gold without giving up too much in return. But China is already displacing some of Germany’s key exports, like cars.
As for China – its scale means its approach to intelligence is typically to ‘spray and pray’, approaching vast numbers of targets; assuming only a fraction will be fruitful; and assuming some of those will be caught. It then dismisses (and uses) each accusation as evidence the West is anti-China. This is all priced in.
So the West’s response is as much about boosting resilience among Western targets as it is about deterring rival spooks. But as we’ve said before, there’s a very delicate balance between boosting resilience and undermining trust.
Also worth noting:
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China’s lead intelligence agency, the MSS, has taken a more public profile lately and in January accused the CIA of launching an “intelligence war”. It highlighted the case of John Shing-Wan Leung, a 78-year-old US citizen jailed for life on espionage charges in China last year.
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Germany’s domestic intelligence agency, the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV), has almost doubled in size to 4,300 personnel over the past decade.
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MEANWHILE, ELSEWHERE…
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🇰🇷 South Korea: The president of Romania, Klaus Iohannis, has joined his South Korean counterpart Yoon Suk Yeol in Seoul to pledge an increase in defence industry cooperation. South Korea’s largest defence contractor, Hanwha Aerospace, is reportedly working on a $726M deal to supply K9 howitzers to Romania.
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🇷🇺 Russia: A Russian airstrike on a prominent TV tower in Ukraine’s second-largest city (Kharkiv) has split the 250m (820ft) high landmark in two. President Zelensky says it was an attempt to intimidate and isolate the city. Russia also hit Ukraine’s third and fourth-largest cities (Odessa and Dnipro) overnight.
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🇪🇸 Spain: Local authorities appear to have accidentally released one of Europe’s most wanted criminals, the alleged leader of the Dutch-Moroccan outfit, the Mocro Mafia. Threats from organised crime in the Netherlands forced Dutch Princess Amalia to live in Spain last year.
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🇦🇷 Argentina: Interpol has issued a red alert for the arrest of Iran’s interior minister, following a request by Argentina over his alleged role in the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community centre that killed 85 people in Buenos Aires. The Iranian minister in question, Ahmad Vahidi, is currently visiting Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
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🇹🇿 Tanzania: The World Bank has suspended funding for a $150M tourism project in southern Tanzania, citing reports of force being used to relocate local communities. Tanzania relies heavily on tourism and has long sought to develop its vast national parks to attract more visitors.
EXTRA INTRIGUE
What we’re reading about underwater data cables
NATIONAL ANTHEM OF THE DAY
The poem ‘Hymn to Liberty’ by Dionysios Solomos
Greece’s national anthem isn’t played very often on the radio, and there’s a pretty great reason why: the original version is 158 verses long! Titled ‘Hymn to Liberty’, the song’s text is taken from an 1823 poem written by Dionysios Solomos about the Greek struggle for independence under the Ottoman Empire. Its modern version, which includes only the first two stanzas, became the country’s official anthem in 1865.
Fun fact: the Greek national anthem is played at every Olympic closing ceremony as a tribute to the event’s birthplace.
DAILY POLL
If you had to move abroad, where would you go? |
Yesterday’s poll: The West seems to have lost influence in parts of Africa. Why do you think that is?
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 👂 The West hasn't listened enough to Africa (27%)
🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️ 🗺️ The West is distracted by other regions (20%)
🟨🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜️ 🏃 Rivals like China and Russia have more to offer (24%)
🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️ 🩹 There are still colonial wounds to heal (18%)
🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ 💸 Western investors are too risk-averse (4%)
🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ ✍️ Other (write in!) (7%)
Your two cents:
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👂 A.B: “Colonial attitudes and prioritising short-term national interest over sustainable development have guided the West's engagement across the continent, to the detriment of long-term relationships.”
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🏃 J.G: “It’s a buyer’s market right now. Russia and China are simply offering more.”
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🗺️ D.L.C: “The Israel-Gaza conflict and Russo-Ukraine war are taking most of the headlines, leaving little about Africa. I only know about the recent coups because of this newsletter. If citizens of the West don't care or know about this issue, their governments won’t make an effort to address it.”
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