Huawei fires employee detained in Poland

A Huawei employee detained in Poland on a charge of spying has been fired by the Chinese tech company.

The company has decided to terminate the employment of Wang Weijing, who was arrested on suspicion of breaking Polish law, a Huawei statement on Saturday said.

Wang’s alleged actions have no relation to the company, the statement said. “In accordance with the terms and conditions of Huawei’s labor contract, we have made this decision because the incident in question has brought Huawei into disrepute,” it said.

Huawei reiterated in the statement that it complies with all applicable laws and regulations in the countries where it operates, and it requires every employee to abide by the laws and regulations in the countries where they are based.

Wang and a Polish national were arrested by Poland’s counterintelligence service on Tuesday, according to media reports.

Wang was said to be a public relations officer of Huawei’s representative office in Poland. The Polish citizen was said to have once worked for a Polish intelligence agency and now works for Orange, a European cellular carrier, Polish broadcaster Telewizja Polska reported. Both have pleaded not guilty, according to the broadcaster.

The Foreign Ministry said in a response to media inquiries early on Saturday that it is paying close attention to Poland’s detention of Wang.

The ministry said it has asked Poland to brief China on the case through consular channels, arrange visits by consular officials and handle the case in a just way according to the law.

Wang’s legitimate rights and interests should be ensured and his safety and humanitarian treatment guaranteed, it said.

China “resolutely opposes the act of deliberate discrediting and groundless fabricating under the situation which lacks facts in evidence”, an unnamed spokesperson of the Chinese embassy in Poland said in a statement published on the embassy’s website on Saturday. The spokesperson did not elaborate.

The arrest has drawn lots of media attention as it came a month after Huawei’s chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, was detained in Canada at the US government’s request on charges related to violating sanctions against Iran.

The telecommunications company is the largest supplier of network equipment for phones and the internet. The Polish government said last year it would collaborate with the company in developing a next-generation high-speed 5G cellular network for the country.