Huawei sacks Chinese executive arrested in Poland on spying charges

Chinese telecom giant Huawei on Saturday sacked a Chinese executive who was arrested on spying charges in Poland, saying his actions have no relation to the company and the incident has harmed its reputation. Poland's counterespionage agency arrested Huawei executive Wang Weijing along with a former Polish security official on Friday on charges of spying for China. Huawei, the world's biggest producer of telecom equipment, in a statement on Saturday, distanced itself from the incident and terminated the employment of the executive.

"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," state-run China Daily quoted the statement by Huawei.

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Huawei said in a statement that its employee's alleged actions have no relation to the company. "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," the statement said.

Earlier, the Chinese Foreign Ministry in a statement had said that it was paying close attention to the detention of Wang in Poland.

The Chinese embassy in Warsaw held an immediate meeting with the Polish Foreign Ministry, asking the Polish side to notify China of details of the case as soon as possible and arrange an early consular visit.

Foreign Ministry said the "The case should be properly handled in a just way according to law, and the legitimate rights and interests, safety and humanitarian treatment of Wang should be guaranteed."

Huawei was caught in a major controversy recently after the arrest of its chief financial officer, Meng Wanzhou, who is also the daughter of the company's founder, in Canada last month.

Meng was accused of breaking US sanctions on Iran. She has been released on bail but faces a legal fight over extradition to the US, where she could be jailed for up to 30 years if found guilty.

Huawei has repeatedly said it's unaware of any wrongdoing by Meng. Meng's arrest triggered tensions between the US and China, which have been trying to resolve their trade war.

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The development came in the backdrop of the US exerting pressure on its allies to blacklist the company over security concerns. The US, New Zealand and Australia have barred the company from involvement in their national 5G networks.