Norwegian citizen accused of trying to spy for China

In Norway, a former researcher at a Chinese university was arrested for espionage, Khrono reported on July 3.

The defendant was taken into custody at Oslo District Court on 2 July at 13:00. The court ruled that the hearing should be closed. The 30-year-old man was charged with violating Section 122 of the Norwegian Penal Code, which provides for serious intelligence activities against state secrets, and Section 126, which provides for other illegal intelligence activities.

The Norwegian Police Security Service (PST) says the accused studied at the Norwegian University of Applied Sciences and completed his PhD at Fudan University in China.

PST police prosecutor Thomas Blom said after a prison meeting that the man was arrested in Gardermoen on Monday. He arrived by plane from China.

“The arrest went off without a hitch”said Blom.

Prosecutors said the investigation was at an early stage and it was too early to comment. The police lawyer also declined to go into details about the defendant’s possible motives. The suspect did not testify and denies his guilt.

Recall that earlier the PST openly spoke about the growing threat from China. This year, the Intelligence Service, the PST and the National Security Directorate (NSD) presented their annual threat and risk assessments without categorization. The document paid the most attention to the threat from Russia and China.

“Countries conducted intelligence activities in 2023 and we expect this to continue in 2024.”said PST director Beate Gangaas.

In its threat assessment, PST noted that China is Norway’s largest partner in technological research projects.

Source: Rossa Primavera