Poland detains employee of Chinese tech giant Huawei on spying charges

Source: Washington Post

Polish authorities detained an employee of Chinese tech giant Huawei and charged him with spying on behalf of China, amid growing global concerns that the company is tied to Chinese intelligence agencies, Polish authorities said Friday.

The arrest of Huawei’s local sales director in Poland comes a month after the company’s chief financial officer was detained in Canada at the U.S. government’s request. Those charges were related to breaking sanctions against Iran, but the Polish move reflects long-standing suspicions by Washington and its allies that Huawei could be used as an arm of Chinese intelligence services.

U.S. officials have long warned that the technology sold by Huawei — which ranges from the infrastructure that powers cellular networks to computers and phones — might be mobilized by the Chinese government as a powerful way to spy on people across the world. The company has defended itself in part by pointing to the absence of formal, public evidence of such activities.

Huawei has sought to help develop a new generation of high-speed European cellular networks, but Western intelligence agencies have slowed its expansion efforts.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/poland-detains-employee-of-chinese-tech-giant-huawei-on-spying-charges/2019/01/11/ac148e42-15a0-11e9-90a8-136fa44b80ba_story.html