COPENHAGEN: A Norwegian citizen has been arrested on suspicion of attempting to spy for China, Norway’s domestic security agency said Tuesday, declining to give details about the case.
“We are in an initial phase. Therefore we are rather tight-lipped now. We are not going to give many details in the case,” said Thomas Blom, a prosecutor with the security agency, known by its Norwegian initials PST.
He spoke after the suspect, who was only identified as a man, was remanded in custody for four weeks, suspected of serious intelligence activities involving state secrets.
“It is a matter of national security,” Blom said. The man was arrested Monday morning at the Oslo international airport “after having been in China,” the prosecutor said. The arrest was undramatic, he said.
The suspect “is well-known,” Blom said, declining to give more details. He added: “We believe the information (he had) was destined to Chinese intelligence.” He didn’t not identify any Chinese agency.
If found guilty, the man faces up to 10 years in jail.
The suspect’s lawyer, Marius Dietrichson, told The Associated Press that his client denies being an agent for China and will plead not guilty.
In its annual threat assessment, the Norwegian domestic security service said that China “will be a significant intelligence threat in 2024.”
“This is due in particular to the deterioration in the relationship between China and the West, China’s desire for more control over supply chains, and positioning in the Arctic,” said the assessment, which was published in February. PST also said that the intelligence threat from China was ”significant.”
Relations between Oslo and Beijing have been tense in the past.
In 2017, then Norway’s prime minister, Erna Solberg, paid a visit to China as part of a restoration of full contacts between the two countries, after Beijing had frozen Oslo out over the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to an imprisoned Chinese dissident. seven years earlier. Although Norway’s government has no say over the Nobel panel’s choices, China suspended a bilateral trade deal and restricted imports of Norwegian salmon.
Norway has uncovered other suspected foreign intelligence activity in the country in recent years.
In 2022, Norway arrested an academic working as a lecturer at the Arctic University of Norway in Tromsoe, who had entered Norway as a Brazilian citizen, and was suspected of spying for one of Russia’s intelligence agencies. Jose Assis Giammaria, who has confirmed his real name is Mikhail Mikushin, had arrived in Norway in 2021 and had researched the northern regions and hybrid threats. Norway’s Arctic border with Russia is 198 kilometers (123 miles) long.
A trial date for Mikushin’s case hasn’t been set.
A Norwegian citizen has been arrested on suspicion of attempting to spy for China
https://arab.news/p9zzs
A Norwegian citizen has been arrested on suspicion of attempting to spy for China
- “We are in an initial phase. Therefore we are rather tight-lipped now,” said Thomas Blom, a prosecutor
- “We believe the information (he had) was destined to Chinese intelligence”
Israel defends Somaliland move at UN amid concerns over Gaza motives
- Some states question if recognition part of a bid to relocate Palestinians or establish military bases
- US President Donald Trump's peace plan for Gaza states: "No one will be forced to leave Gaza, and those who wish to leave will be free to do so and free to return"
- US accuses Security Council of double standards after Western countries recognized Palestinian state
UNITED NATIONS: Israel defended on Monday its formal recognition of the self-declared Republic of Somaliland, but several countries at the United Nations questioned whether the move aimed to relocate Palestinians from Gaza or to establish military bases.
Israel became the first country to recognize Somaliland as an independent and sovereign state on Friday.
The 22-member Arab League, a regional organization of Arab states in the Middle East and parts of Africa, rejects “any measures arising from this illegitimate recognition aimed at facilitating forced displacement of the Palestinian people or exploiting northern Somali ports to establish military bases,” Arab League UN Ambassador Maged Abdelfattah Abdelaziz told the UN Security Council.
“Against the backdrop of Israel’s previous references to Somaliland of the Federal Republic of Somalia as a destination for the deportation of Palestinian people, especially from Gaza, its unlawful recognition of Somaliland region of Somalia is deeply troubling,” Pakistan’s Deputy UN Ambassador Muhammad Usman Iqbal Jadoon told the council.
Israel’s UN mission did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the remarks or address any of them in its statement at the council meeting. In March, the foreign ministers of Somalia and Somaliland said they had not received any proposal to resettle Palestinians from Gaza.
US President Donald Trump’s peace plan for Gaza states: “No one will be forced to leave Gaza, and those who wish to leave will be free to do so and free to return.”
Israel’s coalition government, the most right-wing and religiously conservative in its history, includes far-right politicians who advocate the annexation of both Gaza and the West Bank and encouraging Palestinians to leave their homeland.
Somalia’s UN Ambassador Abukar Dahir Osman said council members Algeria, Guyana, Sierra Leone and Somalia “unequivocally reject any steps aimed at advancing this objective, including any attempt by Israel to relocate the Palestinian population from Gaza to the northwestern region of Somalia.”
SOMALILAND VS PALESTINIAN STATE
Somaliland has enjoyed effective autonomy — and relative peace and stability — since 1991 when Somalia descended into civil war, but the breakaway region has failed to receive recognition from any other country.
“It is not a hostile step toward Somalia, nor does it preclude future dialogue between the parties. Recognition is not an act of defiance. It is an opportunity,” Israel’s Deputy UN Ambassador Jonathan Miller told the council.
In September, several Western states, including France, Britain, Canada and Australia announced they would recognize a Palestinian state, joining more than three-quarters of the 193 UN members who already do so.
Deputy US Ambassador to the UN Tammy Bruce said: “This council’s persistent double standards and misdirection of focus distract from its mission of maintaining international peace and security.”
Slovenia’s UN Ambassador Samuel Zbogar disputed her argument, saying: “Palestine is not part of any state. It is illegally occupied territory ... Palestine is also an observer state in this organization.”
He added: “Somaliland, on the other hand, is a part of a UN member state and recognizing it goes against ... the UN Charter.”
Israel said last week that it would seek immediate cooperation with Somaliland in agriculture, health, technology and the economy. The former British protectorate hopes Israeli recognition will encourage other nations to follow suit, increasing its diplomatic heft and access to global markets.
