Huawei sacks Chinese employee accused of spying in Poland
Chinese telecom giant fires Wang Weijing, saying he has harmed the company’s global reputation.
Chinese telecoms equipment maker Huawei has said it has terminated the employment of a Chinese worker arrested on spying allegations in Poland.
Wang Weijing was arrested for “personal reasons”, the company said in a statement on Saturday. “This incident created harmful effects on Huawei’s global reputation,” the company said.
Polish authorities on Friday arrested Weijing and a former Polish security official on spying allegations, a move that could increase Western security concerns about the telecoms equipment maker.
Maciej Wasik, deputy head of Poland’s special service, said the operation that resulted in the arrest of the two suspects had been under way for a long time and was planned with care.
“Both carried out espionage activities against Poland,” he said.
Polish state TV identified the arrested Pole as Piotr D, saying he was a high-ranking employee at the Internal Security Agency, Poland’s domestic counterintelligence agency, until 2011, where he served as deputy director in the department of information security.
Intense scrutiny
Huawei, the world’s biggest producer of telecoms equipment, faces intense scrutiny in the West over its relationship with the Chinese government and US-led allegations that its equipment could be used by Beijing for spying.
A number of European governments and telecom companies have followed the United States in questioning whether using Huawei for vital mobile network infrastructure could open networks to spying by the Chinese government.
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The US blocked Huawei from operating in its territory in 2012, when a House Intelligence Committee report said it was a security risk.
Huawei’s chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, who is also the daughter of the company’s founder, was detained in Canada last month on a US extradition bid.
Her arrest follows US efforts to blacklist the company internationally over security concerns.
In apparent retaliation, China has since detained two Canadians – a former diplomat and a business consultant – on suspicion of endangering national security.