GERMAN authorities have arrested a Chinese national accused of passing information on a major air freight hub to a man who is suspected of spying for China, reports Reuters and Agence France-Presse.

The woman, identified only as Yaqi X in line with German privacy rules, was arrested in Leipzig. She is suspected of working for a Chinese intelligence service, providing information on flights, freight including military equipment and passengers.

The suspect works for a company that provides logistical services at sites including the Leipzig/Halle Airport, prosecutors said. The airport handles both passengers and freight but is known principally as a cargo hub.

They alleged that, between August 2023 and mid-February this year, she repeatedly passed information to Jian Guo - a German national who was an aide to far-right European Parliament lawmaker Maximilian Krah and was arrested in April.

That, prosecutors said, included above all information on the transport of military equipment and of people with connections to a German defence company, which they didn't identify.

German prosecutors say the suspect is accused of passing information on a major air freight hub.

A judge ordered Yaqi X held in custody pending a possible indictment, prosecutors said. Her flat and workplace were searched.

Tensions have been simmering between Berlin and Beijing over the past year after Chancellor Olaf Scholz unveiled a strategy towards de-risking Germany's economic relationship with China, calling Beijing a "partner, competitor and systemic rival".