On Monday April 22 Mr Guo was arrested in Dresden on suspicion of passing sensitive information about the European Parliament to China’s ministry of state security. He is also suspected of spying on Chinese opposition figures. Mr Krah has denied any personal wrongdoing and said in the wake of the arrest that he will fire his aide.

Mr Krah was a member of the European Parliament’s EU-China friendship Group, an unofficial grouping of MEPs seen as close to the Chinese state.

The controversial body was formed in 2006 and suspended in 2021 because of concerns that it had grown too close to Beijing’s foreign affairs machine.

The AfD politician, who sits on the party’s federal executive committee which helps shape its foreign policy positions, has described reports of mass internment camps and abuses against the country’s Uyghur minority population in China’s western Xinjiang region as “anti-Chinese propaganda” and “horror stories”.

In March 2024 the FBI questioned Mr Krah over suspicions he took money from Kremlin agents, Der Speigel reported in April, accusations he denies.

It followed allegations that Petr Bystron, fellow AfD politician and candidate running in the European parliamentary elections in June 2024,  received €20,000 (£17,000) in cash from the manager of a Russian propaganda network while sitting in a parked car, recordings indicate. Mr Bystron has denied any wrongdoing.

Following all the accusations, the party has dropped to third in the polls.

Alice Weidel, co-leader of the AfD, dismissed them as politically motivated.

“I just see that our party is being discredited,” she said.

The Telegraph has contacted Mr Krah for comment on all the allegations made against him in this story.