Czech police detains man suspected of working for Chinese intelligence
The Czech police has detained a man suspected of working for a Chinese intelligence service and charged him with “unauthorised activity on behalf of a foreign power.” He is the first person to be prosecuted for this offence, which was introduced into Czech law by the previous government.
According to Czech Radio, the accused, Yang Yiming, has been working in Czechia for at least two years as the Prague correspondent for the Chinese newspaper Guangming Daily. The Czech Security Information Service (BIS) stated that he was cooperating with Chinese intelligence and was detained in the early hours of January 18, following an operation carried out in “close and highly professional cooperation” between BIS and the police.
Guangming Daily is affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party, and its editor-in-chief is an active member of China’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection. Kateřina Procházková, an analyst for the project Sinopsis, explained that from this position, the newspaper can dispatch reporters abroad who operate as correspondents and, in many cases, as intelligence operatives. Journalistic cover provides intelligence services with easier access to top political and business circles.
As part of this cover, Yang Yiming conducted interviews with Czech politicians and businessmen. Procházková expanded on whom he had interviewed:
“It is very important to say that they choose people in such a way that they don’t need to manipulate them too much. They select politicians who are critical of the European Union, of Western positions, of democracy. These are often politicians from so-called anti-system or populist parties.
“In the interviews, they try to show the Chinese reader that even these Western ‘experts,’ are critical of their own political system and policies. And very often they highlight how these figures praise or look up to China. This includes, for example, Jan Zahradil, who gave one or even two interviews to the newspaper, as well as Kateřina Konečná or former prime minister Jiří Paroubek.”
Jan Zahradil, then a Czech MEP for the Civic Democrats (ODS), has emphasised that he shared only his personal opinions and did not provide any sensitive information. Kateřina Konečná, leader of the Czech Communist Party and also an MEP, openly praised the Chinese model and criticised Brussels in her interviews with Guangming Daily, according to news website Seznam Zprávy. Reports indicate that several politicians in Slovakia were also approached.
In response to the case, the Czech government plans to review the process for granting accreditation to foreign journalists. Yang Yiming’s accreditation, issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, had been repeatedly renewed. Current Prime Minister Andrej Babiš (ANO) criticised the former foreign minister, Jan Lipavský, for this, but Lipavský replied that the ministry was not aware the journalist was linked to Chinese intelligence during his tenure.
Asked about the scope of Chinese intelligence activities, Procházková added:
“There is political espionage, which is what Yang was involved in, but there is also industrial espionage, which is a major topic. Chinese spies appear in academia and research as well—we have begun to focus on this in Czechia.
“There is also espionage targeting the Chinese diaspora, monitoring Chinese citizens living abroad. These include the Chinese police stations that we also had here and reported on.”
Yang Yiming now faces up to five years in prison. After his arrest on Sunday morning, the Prague 8 District Court placed him in pre-trial detention.
The offence of “unauthorised activity on behalf of a foreign power” was added to the Czech Criminal Code by the previous government, and President Petr Pavel approved the amendment last February. According to the former government, a legal gap had previously left known cases unpunished. The measure was intended primarily to target Russian spies, covering the collection of sensitive—but not necessarily classified—information. Former interior minister Vít Rakušan commented:
“The purpose is, of course, also preventive. There shouldn’t be many such cases, and indeed there aren’t, but they have been documented in the past.”
The police have now applied the provision for the first time. The current governing coalition, however, wants to repeal it, arguing that it is drafted too broadly. BIS spokesperson Ladislav Šticha previously responded to this suggestion:
“From the perspective of state security, it would certainly be better to amend the provision – to make it more precise – rather than abolish it without a replacement.”
