Germany's AfD's far-right leader Alice Weidel held secret meetings with Chinese envoy

Alice Weidel, the leader of far-right German party Alternative for Germany (AfD), held secret meetings with Chinese ambassador to Germany for years.

In an investigation, the German newspaper Bild reported that Weidel met Wu Ken, the Ambassador of China to Germany (2019-24), once a month in an off-the-books meetings at a secret building in German capital Berlin. When confronted with the findings, Weidel admitted meeting Wu but said she met him once in months.

As for their discussions, Weidel said that she sought an understanding of China’s position on Germany.

The damning findings come days ahead of German parliamentary elections in which AfD has rattled mainstream politicians. As per latest opinion polls, the party stands second in popularity and way ahead of incumbent SPD. While AfD’s links to the neo-Nazi movement have led to widespread concerns and contributed to its ostracisation by German parties, the links to China have led to fresh concerns whether a top contender for German chancellorship has been groomed by China.

The findings are all the more damning as European far-right has long been supported by Russia and China is Russia’s principal ally. The AfD is so extremist that even French far-right party, National Rally (RN), broke ties with it in the European Union (EU) elections last year. Moreover, AfD has previously been charged with spying for China and such allegations contributed to the RN-AfD split.

AfD’s leader Alice Weidel’s deep links to China

In recent years, Weidel maintained regular secret contacts with China via ambassador Wu, according to the investigation by Bild.

The newspaper reported two sources within AfD as saying that Weidel met Wu once a month and those meetings were secret and not included in her calendar.

When confronted with the findings, Weidel admitted making “several” visits to that private resident but sought to downplay her relationship with Wu.

Weidel said that she met Wu “maybe once in nine months”.

As for the reason for her secret meetings, Weidel said that she wanted to get Chinese assessment of the war in Ukraine.

“How do the Chinese see the situation in Ukraine together with Russia? The Chinese attach great importance to formalities,” said Weidel without going into the specifics of her conversations with Wu.

In fact, Wu has met Weidel more than he has met German foreign ministry officials, according to the newspaper.

Weidel and Wu used to meet secretly at a private residence maintained by Wu in secrecy in southwest Berlin, which was heavily guarded by a strong fence and several dogs, as per the newspaper.

AfD leader Alice Weidel’s long relationship to China

In light of revealation of Weidel’s secret meetings with the top Chinese diplomat in Germany, fresh attention has come on her long relationship with China that goes back to decades. It is bound to be explored whether she has been groomed by China to do the Communist Party’s bidding in Germany and Europe.

Weidel, 46, was first drawn to China when she was just a teenager. The Bild reported that she started learning Mandarin at the age of 14. She is today a fluent Mandarin speaker.

As an economist, Weidel worked for the state-owned Bank of China and lived in China for six years. It has been reported that she was on scholarship during those years. Her doctoral thesis was also written on Chinese pension system.

In China, Weidel worked at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

While Weidel today leads a party linked to neo-Nazis, her grandparents were members of the Nazi Party. Her grandfather, Hans Weidel, was a prominent Nazi judge who persecuted political opponents of the Nazi regime. He was appointed by Adolf Hitler himself.