Kalinak: Situation Concerning Chinese Spy Not Security Risk for Slovakia

Bratislava, 23 January (TASR) - The situation concerning the arrest of a Chinese spy by the Czech police doesn't pose a security risk for Slovakia, said Defence Minister Robert Kalinak (Smer-SD) on Friday in response to questions from journalists, adding that Slovak intelligence services are monitoring the situation. The spy was reportedly granted interviews by MEP Lubos Blaha (Smer-SD) and Parliamentary Chair Richard Rasi (Voice-SD). "Every intelligence service, both civilian and military, has its own department that specialises in foreign intelligence services, and they are generally very good at it, and we're taking measures on an ongoing basis," said Kalinak, claiming that it will be important to monitor this story to see how serious it is, whether the Chinese spy communicated with politicians or collected military information or information related to NATO from them. "That could make this case much more serious, but if someone has provided only an interview, as the House chair did, then I don't consider it to be a security risk at this point," said the minister. The Czech police and Security Intelligence Service announced on Thursday (22 January) that criminal investigators in the Czech Republic on Saturday (17 January) had detained a person suspected of spying for China and charged them with unauthorised activities on behalf of a foreign power. am/df