Germany ’s ambassador in Beijing has said she was summoned after Berlin arrested four people for allegedly spying for China. Patricia Flor described her summoning as “quite a telling move” by the Chinese government and said that it gave her an opportunity to assert Germany’s stance against espionage.

Arrests come amid growing friction between Berlin and Beijing, with German ambassador to China Patricia Flor calling the summon ‘a telling move’.

For the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party it has proved especially embarrassing, because their top two candidates for the European elections in June have been caught in the crosshairs. An aide to MEP Maximilian Krah,