German accusations are 'groundless', ministry says

A German intelligence agency's allegation that China is targeting Germans on social media in an attempt to cultivate sources of information is "sheer groundless", Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said on Monday.

Hans-Georg Maassen, head of Germany's domestic intelligence agency, known by its German acronym BfV, said his agency believes more than 10,000 Germans have been targeted by Chinese intelligence agents posing as consultants, headhunters or researchers, primarily on the social networking site LinkedIn, the Associated Press reported.

Dismissing the accusation, Lu said China hopes the German government's departments will "say and do more things that are responsible and avoid doing things that go against China-Germany ties".