Huawei Executive and Polish National Arrested Over Spying Allegations
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Tensions between China and the Western world increase as a Huawei executive was arrested in Poland on the basis of spying. The spying allegations were confirmed as the charges by Poland’s counterintelligence service. The suspect has also been identified by Polish state media as the company’s sales director for the country.
A Polish national was arrested alongside the Huawei executive. Apparently, the Polish national has close ties to cyber-business. Deputy of Poland’s special services, Maciej Wasik, revealed that the entire plan was very carefully organized and the operation had been underway for a while.
A spokesperson for Polish security has revealed that the spying allegations are not linked directly to Huawei itself and are instead related to individual actions. The Huawei executive’s name was revealed by the Chinese Embassy to be Weijing Wang, while the Polish national remains unidentified, though it’s known that he works at a telecoms firm called Orange Polska.
TVP, a Polish public channel, reported that a search was carried out at local offices of Huawei and Orange Polska. Both parties have issued statements expressing that they’re both fully prepared to cooperate with the authorities. Orange Polska didn’t identify the employee and added that it is unsure if the employee’s professional work was linked to the investigation in any way.
At present, Weijing Wang and the Polish national are being detained for 3 months, as ordered by the court. In the event that they are convicted, they will likely be facing up to 10 years in prison.
This escalated tension between China and the Western world comes a month after Huawei CFO (and the daughter of the founder), Meng Wanzhou, was arrested in Canada. This was the result of American pressure on Canada to arrest her as they believed she was helping the company evade sanctions imposed on Iran. Huawei stated that no wrongdoing involving her had occurred. With America and China currently engaged in a trade war, this incident served to apply added tension.
Experts have tried to discourage America from extraditing Meng, as it would most likely compromise American businesses in China. This is especially of note due to the stigma American products are developing among Chinese businesses.
In the past, US intelligence agencies have also claimed that Huawei has close ties to the Chinese government and its equipment might possess “back doors” which could be exploited by government spies. Huawei has categorically denied the accusations and insists that no such ties exist. Nonetheless, various Western countries and businesses find themselves hesitating to include Huawei devices under their telecom networks. Beijing has also expressed displeasure over the matter.