Three German citizens who are believed to have gathered sensitive naval data and obtained a high-powered laser on behalf of the Chinese security services were arrested on Monday, prosecutors said, underscoring the fragile nature of the relationship between the two countries.

德国检察官表示，周一逮捕了三名德国公民，据信他们代表中国安全部门收集了敏感的海军数据，并获得了一台高功率激光器，由此凸显出两国关系的脆弱性。

A man identified as Thomas R., in keeping with German privacy rules, acted as an “agent” for the Chinese Ministry of State Security, and engaged two others — a married couple identified as Herwig and Ina F. — who ran an engineering company in Düsseldorf, the authorities said.

当局称，一名被称为托马斯·R的男子（按照德国隐私规定隐去姓名）充当了中国国家安全部的“代理人”，并与被称为赫维格和伊娜·F的夫妇进行接触，这对夫妇在杜塞尔多夫经营一家工程公司。

The arrests come at an awkward time for the German government: Chancellor Olaf Scholz recently spent three days in China as the countries signed several bilateral trade agreements, but Germany is also vigilant to the threat posed by China.

对德国政府来说，此次逮捕行动发生在尴尬的时刻：德国总理肖尔茨最近刚结束三天访华，两国签署了几项双边贸易协定，但德国同时也对中国构成的威胁保持警惕。

“​​We are aware of the considerable danger posed by Chinese espionage to business, industry and science,” said Nancy Faeser, the German minister of the interior. “We are looking very closely at these risks and threats and have issued clear warnings and raised awareness so that protective measures are increased everywhere,” she added.

“我们意识到，中国间谍活动对商业、工业和科学构成了相当大的危险，”德国内政部长南希·费瑟说。“我们正在密切关注这些风险和威胁，并发布了明确的警告，提高人们的意识，以增强各地的保护措施，”她说。

Separately, the British authorities said in a statement on Monday that two men had been charged with violating the Official Secrets Act after allegedly sharing information with China that could be “useful to an enemy.”

另外，英国当局周一发表声明，称两名男子被控违反了《官方保密法》，涉嫌与中国分享可能“对敌人有用”的信息。

London’s Metropolitan Police named the men as Christopher Berry, 32, from Witney, Oxfordshire, and Christopher Cash, 29, from London. Mr. Cash, a parliamentary researcher with links to the governing Conservative Party, was arrested last year on suspicion of working for the Chinese government.

伦敦警察局称，这两名男子分别是32岁、来自牛津郡威特尼的克里斯托弗·贝里和29岁、来自伦敦的的克里斯托弗·卡什。卡什是一名与执政的保守党有联系的议会研究员，去年因涉嫌为中国政府工作而被捕。

“This has been an extremely complex investigation into what are very serious allegations,” the police statement said, adding that the two men had been bailed to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Friday. Officials have not indicated that the German and British cases are connected.

警方声明称：“这是一项极其复杂的调查，涉及非常严重的指控。”声明还说，两名男子已保释，将于周五在威斯敏斯特地方法院出庭。官方没有表示德国和英国的案件之间存在关联。

The threat to Germany was made clear last week, when Volkswagen confirmed that Chinese hackers in a separate incident had stolen an estimated 19,000 sensitive documents from the automaker over a period of four years, starting in 2010. Volkswagen is one of the biggest German companies.

德国面临的威胁在上周变得清晰起来。大众汽车证实，从2010年开始，中国黑客在另一起历时四年的事件中，从这家汽车制造商窃取了约1.9万份敏感文件。大众是德国最大的企业之一。

Roughly 97 billion euros, or about $103 billion, of German products were sold in China last year, making it Germany’s fourth biggest export market and one that is especially important for the powerful auto sector.

去年，德国产品在中国的销售额在970亿欧元左右（约合1030亿美元），使中国成为德国的第四大出口市场，对于强大的德国汽车行业来说，它尤为重要。

Experts are increasingly warning of China’s aggressive trade practices. Last year, the German government released a national strategy paper focusing on China, calling the trading partner a “systemic rival.”

专家们对中国咄咄逼人的贸易行为发出了更多警告。去年，德国政府发布了一份以中国为重点的国家战略文件，称这个贸易伙伴是“系统性竞争对手”。

The arrests came as the police searched the homes and workplaces of the three suspects in Düsseldorf and in Bad Homburg, in the western part of the country.

逮捕三名嫌疑人的同时，警方在德国西部的杜塞尔多夫和巴特洪堡搜查了他们的住所和工作场所。

According to the authorities, Herwig and Ina F. used their company, which had previously worked on projects in China, to establish a formal research partnership with an unidentified German research university.

根据当局的说法，赫维格和伊娜·F利用他们之前在中国从事项目的公司，与一所未透露名字的德国研究型大学建立了正式的研究合作关系。

Under the guise of working for a legitimate business partner, which the authorities said was a front company for China’s Ministry of State Security, the couple then commissioned a study looking at the state of modern developments of certain machine parts which are crucial in developing high-powered ship motors, such as those used in navy ships.

这对夫妇以一家合法商业伙伴为旗号（当局表示，这家合作伙伴是中国国家安全部的幌子公司），委托进行了一项研究，调查某些机械部件的现代发展状况，这些部件对开发高功率船舶发动机（如海军舰船上使用的发动机）至关重要。

The couple also used their company to buy a high-powered dual-use laser, which they exported to China without the required export permit.

这对夫妇还利用他们的公司购买了高功率军民两用激光器，并在没有获得出口许可的情况下将其出口到中国。

“Anyone who works for foreign intelligence services in Germany and illegally exports potentially militarily useful material must expect a harsh response from our constitutional state,” Marco Buschmann, Germany’s minister of justice, said after the arrests.

“任何在德国为外国情报机构工作、非法出口可能具有军事用途材料的人都必须预料到，我们这个宪政国家会做出严厉回应，”德国司法部长马尔科·布施曼在逮捕行动后表示。

There was no public comment from the Chinese authorities.

中国政府没有对此事发表公开评论。

When the three suspects were arrested, they had been working on new research projects that would have benefited the Chinese Navy, the federal prosecutor said. The group had been working for China since at least June 2022, it added.

联邦检察官表示，当三名嫌疑人被捕时，他们一直在从事新的研究项目，这些项目可能会使中国海军受益。该公司补充称，至少从2022年6月起，这伙人就一直在为中国工作。