China’s Huawei fires employee detained

Huawei said yesterday it has fired a Chinese employee who was arrested in Poland on espionage allegations, as China’s telecom giant distanced itself from the case amid Western concerns that it could act as a proxy for Chinese security services. This week’s detention of Wang Weijing follows the December arrest of Huawei’s chief financial officer in Canada and US efforts to blacklist the company internationally over security concerns.

While China’s government has vociferously defended Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou and demanded her release, the firm swiftly sacked Wang, who works at its representative office in Poland. “His alleged actions have no relation to the company,” Huawei said in a statement. “In accordance with the terms and conditions of Huawei’s labour contract, we have made this decision because the incident in question has brought Huawei into disrepute,” it said.

“Huawei complies with all applicable laws and regulations in the countries where it operates, and we require every employee to abide by the laws and regulations in the countries where they are based.”