Comment on suspected espionage -- The danger of Chinese espionage is real
It took several years for the security authorities to crack down on a suspicious hotel at the Meiringen military air base. The affair needs to be illuminated.
If someone submitted such a script to SRF, those responsible would reject it: it's too cliché. But this is how it happened: In 2018, a friendly Chinese family bought the Gasthof Rössli in the hamlet of Unterbach, right next to the Meiringen military airfield. With a clear view of the airfield where the new F-35 fighter aircraft will land for testing in June 2019 and where the American-designed jet will continue to take off and land in the future.
The family has been hosting there for almost five years (with interruptions due to Corona). In 2023, investigators suddenly comb the inn. And the Chinese disappear. Swiss security circles suspect the “innkeepers” of spying for China. There is no evidence. From the outside, everyone involved remains silent. (Listen to our podcast: Chinese under suspicion of espionage: What exactly happened in Meiringen?)
Questions remain. The Chinese didn't act particularly discreetly - they bought the inn themselves and their names are in the land register. In addition, the entire Meiringen airfield is designed to be very accessible. Two public roads cross the slope. What does the security concept look like? Weren't there any army members at the military airfield who became suspicious after 2018 that there was an inn there whose restaurant wasn't even open? Were the military police sleeping?
Be that as it may, at the local level the reaction must have been sparse, if any at all. But the main problem is the higher level. There are only a handful of military airfields in Switzerland; these are sensitive locations. The Swiss intelligence service has itself placed a focus on economic espionage. With the “Prophylax” program, he warns companies about the dangers of research by foreign countries. China is a key player in this. (Interview with China expert: “The time for Swiss naivety is over”)
The fact that, of all things, a suspicion involving a DDPS facility was only intervened with harsh measures after years is an embarrassment: How can you credibly warn against spies when you yourself - in a particularly sensitive place - need so long to to react?
The people most responsible in this case are the heads of the civilian and military intelligence services as well as Defense Minister Viola Amherd. They owe the public answers about what went wrong in the “Rössli case”. And what you want to learn from it.
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