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 opposition Christian Democrats (KDH) have requested the convening of an extraordinary session of the parliamentary committee for supervising the Slovak Intelligence Service (SIS) following the detention of a Chinese spy in the Czech Republic who allegedly interviewed MEP Lubos Blaha (Smer-SD) and Parliamentary Chair Richard Rasi (Voice-SD), TASR was told by the KDH communications department on Friday.
        The party considers it to be unacceptable that questions remain unanswered regarding state security and the protection of strategic interests. It's therefore demanding that the SIS leadership should provide MPs with an explanation of the actions taken by the security forces in this case. "We're asking how it is possible that such a person got close to the highest representatives of the Smer government. We'll demand answers at an appropriate forum. We're calling for an extraordinary meeting of the House committee supervising SIS," said KDH MP and member of the supervisory committee Frantisek Majersky.
        According to him, it's essential to find out whether the Slovak secret services knew about these high-risk contacts, whether they warned constitutional officials, and whether Slovakia's security interests were threatened.
        Opposition MP Gabor Grendel ('Slovakia'-'For the People' caucus) noted in this regard that if an extraordinary committee meeting failed to convene or open, the January parliamentary session agenda also includes a regular meeting of the committee overseeing SIS activities. "This is certainly a valid question. If the Czech security authorities have assessed this person's activities as a security risk, then it isn't possible for this person to pose a security risk in the Czech Republic but not in Slovakia when he's in contact with high-ranking constitutional officials," said Grendel.
        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.