Huawei Employee Arrested In Poland On Accusations Of Spying For China

Bad luck seems to have dogged Huawei footsteps from the beginning of 2019. First, the company was off to a bad start just ahead of the threshold of the year to come with the "New Year Greeting" incident on Twitter,  which directly caused it a worldwide embarrassment. And now, a Huawei's employee who is responsible for sales to public-sector clients in Poland has been accused of spying for China. Notably, it comes just over a month after Meng Wanzhou, a Huawei top executive was detained in Canada as a request of the US.

In particular, a sales director of the China manufacturing giant Huawei was arrested along with a former Polish security official. Both are accused of conducting espionage on behalf of the China government.

Polish security services' spokesman, however, said that the accusations are more likely to be individual actions rather than related to Huawei.

Intelligence agencies of the US declare that Huawei is linked to the Chinese government, and its devices can contain "backdoor" components used by government spies.

While tension continues to mount between the relevant parties, no solid evidence was presented to the public to confirm the allegations. However, the issue is seen as a blow to Huawei when some Western countries are currently considering restricting the company's access to their markets. Needless to say, the allegations of the US agencies along with the recent affair between China and Canada have further increased the tension with Beijing.

China's Foreign Ministry also let it be known that they are paying attention to the progress of this case and calls for Poland to treat it fairly.

According to Polish public broadcaster TVP, both Huawei's local offices and Orange Polska, the workplace of the former Polish security official were being under investigation.

In response to this allegation, Huawei affirmed that the staff action has no relation to the company and also stressed that it always abides by the laws and regulations in all countries.

According to Orange Polska:

Reportedly, Poland’s Agency for Electronic Communications was also searched. Nonetheless, the regulator quickly denied the rumors.

In considering a possible of Chinese intelligence agencies developing a way to subvert Huawei’s equipment, there is a serious suspicion of whether China used the "backdoor" for the purpose of espionage and vandalism, especially when China approved the law which states that citizens and organizations shall support as well as corporate in national intelligence work according to the law back in 2017.

Recently, Norway reportedly considers banning Huawei from building 5G infrastructure.