Like Ed said, everyone is spying on everyone all the time. They always make such a huge deal when they catch a spy, and make a big splash with the show trials and the subsequent punishments. "Isn't it terrible China was spying on us!" as they up their surveillance budget and double the manpower.

Everybody is spying on everyone, everywhere all at once. The trick is not to get caught doing it.

Another one has ties to Russian spies. All those German Nationalist party members have a disgust for democracy and love autocratic schemes like in Russia and China. They have a deeply rooted liking for Emperors and Dictators. And it shows.

My default position is to disbelieve anything any western government says regarding Russia/China/Iran/whatever other country becomes a bad guy

I don't know what any of that means.