Huawei employee, one other, arrested in Poland

Polish authorities arrested two people, including a Chinese employee of the telecommunications giant Huawei, and charged them with spying for Beijing, officials said Friday, as the United States and its allies move to restrict the use of Chinese technology because of concerns that it is being used for espionage.

The arrest of the Huawei employee is almost certain to escalate tensions between Western countries and China over the company, which authorities in the United States have accused of acting as an arm of the Chinese government and making equipment designed for spying.

In December, the daughter of Huawei’s founder was arrested in Canada at the request of the United States, which said she had committed fraud as part of a scheme to violate U.S. sanctions against companies doing business with Iran.

It was unclear whether the arrests in Poland had been requested by the United States. But a senior Western diplomat who was briefed on them said the Justice Department had been working with the Polish government.

Europe is increasingly a battleground in the fight over Huawei. The company’s sales in the region have been growing, but many countries there now face pressure to reconsider its presence, particularly as construction begins for the next-generation wireless networks known as 5G.

Huawei has long denied spying for the Chinese government. The second person arrested is an employee of the French telecommunications company Orange, which confirmed that its office had been raided and that the man’s belongings had been seized.