Poland calls for NATO, EU action on Huawei technology
Polish government officials have asked the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization to decide whether both alliances should exclude Huawei’s technology from certain global markets.
Poland’s internal affairs minister, Joachim Brudziński, on Saturday told the Polish radio station RMF FM the EU and NATO should work together to form a joint position on whether to allow the continued use of equipment made by the Chinese telecommunication company. Brudziński’s recommendation came after Polish authorities arrested Huawei’s head of sales in Poland, Wang Weijing, and a former Polish intelligence agent on espionage charges.
Those arrests came amid ongoing international scrutiny over Huawei, which Western security officials have said acts as a wing of the Chinese government and could represent a threat to national security. The firm provides technology for mobile phones, internet networks and telecommunication infrastructure throughout the world. Huawei has consistently denied any wrongdoing.
“There are concerns about Huawei within NATO as well,” Brudziński said. “It would make most sense to have a joint stance, among EU members states and NATO members…We want relations with China that are good, intensive and attractive for both sides.”
Huawei has said that Wang’s alleged criminal activity had nothing to do with the company. Huawei has fired Wang, saying in a statement late Saturday the former head of sales had brought “disrepute” to the company.
Both Wang and the other suspect, a former Polish official who had been working for Orange, a French telecommunication company, have pleaded not guilty. Much of the case remains shrouded in mystery, and police have said they will keep both suspects detained for three months while the investigation continues.
A spokesman for the Polish security services told Reuters the charges were related to individual actions, not directly to Huawei.
During his time in the government, the Polish suspect, identified only as Piotr D., was “known in circles associated with cyber-business affairs,” Maciej Wasik, deputy head of Polan’s special services, said last week. The man had access to “the internal government system that allows people to communicate secret information to the most important people in the country,” he said.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said Monday that international officials should “cease the groundless fabrications and unreasonable restrictions toward Huawei[.]”
Canadian authorities last month arrested Meng Wanzhou, Huawei’s chief financial officer, at the request of the U.S. Meng stands accused of lying to financial institutions about Huawei’s work in Iran, causing those companies to unwittingly violate U.S. sanctions.
