Norwegian citizen arrested on suspicion of attempting to spy for China

COPENHAGEN, Denmark — A Norwegian citizen has been arrested on suspicion of attempting to spy for China, Norway's domestic security agency said Tuesday, declining to provide details of the case.

“We are in an initial phase. That is why we are rather discreet at the moment. We are not going to give many details about this case,” said Thomas Blom, prosecutor for the Norwegian security agency PST.

He was speaking after the suspect, identified as a man, was remanded in custody for four weeks on suspicion of serious intelligence activities involving state secrets.

“This is a matter of national security,” Blom said. The man was arrested Monday morning at Oslo International Airport “after having been in China,” the prosecutor said. The arrest was not spectacular, he said.

The suspect “is well known,” Blom said, declining to give further details. He added: “We believe the information (he had) was intended for Chinese intelligence.” He did not identify any Chinese agency.

If convicted, the man faces up to 10 years in prison.

The suspect's lawyer, Marius Dietrichson, told The Associated Press that his client denies being an agent of China and will plead not guilty.

In its annual threat assessment, Norway's National Security Service said China “will pose a significant intelligence threat in 2024.”

“This is due in particular to the deterioration of China-West relations, China’s desire for greater control over supply chains, and its positioning in the Arctic,” the assessment, published in February, said. The PST also said the threat from Chinese intelligence was “significant.”

Relations between Oslo and Beijing have been strained in the past.

In 2017, then-Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg visited China as part of a renewed push to restore contact between the two countries after Beijing blocked Oslo over the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to a jailed Chinese dissident seven years earlier. Although the Norwegian government has no say in the Nobel jury’s selection, China has suspended a bilateral trade deal and restricted imports of Norwegian salmon.

Norway has uncovered other suspicious foreign intelligence activities in the country in recent years.

In 2022, Norway arrested an academic working as a professor 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 confirmed his real name was Mikhail Mikushin, had arrived in Norway in 2021 and had been investigating northern regions and hybrid threats. Norway's Arctic border with Russia is 198 kilometers long.

A date for Mikushin's trial has not yet been set.