Huawei has fired a sales director in Poland following his arrest on espionage charges.
On January 11th, Polish authorities arrested Wang Weijing — also known by his Polish name, Stanislaw Wang — on charges of conducting espionage on behalf of China.
Huawei said on January 12th that Wang’s alleged actions aren’t related to Huawei and that he brought the company “into disrepute.” Further, the Chinese telecommunications equipment manufacturer said it complies with all laws in the countries it operates in and requires employees do the same.
#Breaking Huawei has decided to terminate the employment of Wang Weijing, arrested in Poland on suspicion of spying. “His alleged actions have no relation to the company … [and have] brought Huawei into disrepute,” company said in a statement. Story coming.
— Dave Yin 殷大伟 (@yindavid) January 12, 2019
The arrest is the latest in a line of incidents to rock the company, including the arrest of CFO Meng Wanzhou in Vancouver and most recently and the departure of Huawei Canada’s senior vice president of corporate affairs, Scott Bradley.
Polish officials have not charged Huawei with wrongdoing concerning Wang’s case. Further, authorities arrested a Polish national on similar charges.
As a sales director in Huawei’s enterprise division, Wang handled sales of technology to government customers, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal. Additionally, Poland is a key European market for the Chinese company, serving all four major network operators and controlling more than a quarter of the smartphone market. That makes Huawei the second largest smartphone vendor in Poland.
Wang’s arrest plays into Western governments’ fears that Huawei could be spying on behalf of China. However, Huawei has denied the allegation.
Despite that, several countries have moved to restrict Huawei’s access to the 5G market.
China’s Foreign Ministry reportedly said Wang’s detention is highly concerning. Further, the ministry said that China’s Warsaw embassy is in touch with Polish authorities, requesting updates, consular access to Wang and ensuring the protection of his rights.
Before moving into sales, Wang worked as a public relations director for the company.
Source: Wall Street Journal, Caixin Via: Twitter
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