Chinese Influence in German Far-Right Party Revealed

On 03 Octo­ber 2023, For­eign Pol­i­cy report­ed that T‑Online, a Ger­man news out­let, exposed Max­i­m­il­ian Krah of the Alter­na­tive for Ger­many (AfD) par­ty for exten­sive ties to a Chi­nese influ­ence net­work. Krah, a key Euroskep­tic, anti-immi­gra­tion, and nation­al­ist fig­ure in the AfD, is impli­cat­ed in receiv­ing sup­port from Chi­na. The report high­lights that sev­er­al of Krah’s asso­ciates, includ­ing his assis­tant, have con­nec­tions to both Chi­nese dis­si­dents and Bei­jing, rais­ing sus­pi­cions of infil­tra­tion. Despite Krah’s denial of these alle­ga­tions, the find­ings align with a broad­er trend of far-right par­ties in Cen­tral and East­ern Europe show­ing pro-Bei­jing stances, influ­enced by Chi­na’s finan­cial out­reach and their align­ment with Rus­sia, Chi­na’s ally. This con­trasts with the mixed views on Chi­na among far-right par­ties in West­ern Europe. Chi­na’s engage­ment with these groups is seen as an oppor­tunis­tic strat­e­gy to extend its influ­ence in Europe, par­tic­u­lar­ly Ger­many, and to mute crit­i­cism of its human rights record.