China is seeking consular access for Huawei Technologies Co (華為) employee Wang Weijing (王偉晶), who was arrested in Poland over espionage allegations, state media reported yesterday.
Citing the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, state broadcaster CCTV said that Beijing is “closely following” the detention of Wang and has asked to arrange a consular visit “as soon as possible.”
The Chinese embassy in Poland has also asked Warsaw to “effectively ensure the legitimate rights and interests, and humanitarian and safe treatment of the person involved.”
Photo: Reuters
A Polish man was on Tuesday also arrested for alleged espionage along with Wang.
The men are suspected of having “worked for Chinese services and to the detriment of Poland,” Polish special services spokesman Stanislaw Zaryn said.
Their apartments and workplaces were searched, he said, adding that the Polish suspect had worked “for several state institutions.”
According to the LinkedIn profile of “Stanislaw Wang” — Wang’s Polish name, according to Polish public TV channel TVP — the detained Huawei employee worked at the Chinese consulate in Gdansk, Poland, before taking a job at the Chinese tech firm.
At Huawei, Wang worked as a public relations director for more than five years before taking on the role of sales director in 2017.
Wang’s arrest is the latest setback for Huawei.
Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou (孟晚舟) was last month arrested in Canada on request from the US, which suspects her of breaching Iranian sanctions.
Following her arrest, two Canadians, diplomat Michael Kovrig and entrepreneur Michael Spavor, were detained in China on grounds of national security, in what has largely been seen as retaliation for the case.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday said that Chinese officials are not respecting the diplomatic immunity of one of the Canadians detained in China last month.
Kovrig, an analyst on northeast Asia for the International Crisis Group, took a leave of absence from the Canadian government.
Canadian authorities had not previously said that he was protected by diplomatic immunity, but Trudeau asserted that on Friday.
“It is unfortunate that China has arbitrarily and unfairly detained two Canadian citizens, and indeed in one of the cases is not respecting the principles of diplomatic immunity,” Trudeau said.
Trudeau did not elaborate on why Kovrig is entitled to diplomatic immunity, but he reiterated that Canada was operating under the rule of law, saying that Meng was arrested because of an extradition request, but was out on bail and living in her Canadian home, and that all countries need to respect the rule of law.
Additional reported by AP
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