Europe is giving US-led calls for a boycott of Huawei Technologies Co’s (華為) 5G telecoms equipment a mixed reception, with some governments untroubled by spy suspicions against the Chinese giant, but others backing a ban.
In the latest setback for the company, Huawei on Saturday said it had fired an employee in Poland who was arrested there a day earlier on suspicion of spying for China.
The company said it has “decided to terminate the employment of Mr Wang Weijing [王偉晶], who was arrested on suspicion of breaking Polish law.”
Polish authorities on Friday said they arrested Wang, a Chinese citizen and former diplomat, along with a Polish cybersecurity expert who also worked at the telecom company Orange.
State television identified the Polish man as Piotr D, and said he was a high-ranking employee at the Polish Internal Security Agency.
Huawei said Wang’s actions “have no relation to the company” and that he was fired because “the incident in question has brought Huawei into disrepute.”
The arrest rekindled tensions between China and the West over cybersecurity concerns surrounding Huawei. It is the world’s biggest maker of telecommunications equipment, but has been banned in the US since 2012 over fears it is a security risk.
Tensions over Huawei have intensified since Canada arrested chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou (孟晚舟) last month at the request of US authorities.
Several Asian and Pacific countries have followed Washington’s call for a Huawei ban, but the picture in Europe is more nuanced, not least because Huawei’s 5G capabilities are so attractive.
They are well ahead of Sweden’s Ericsson AB, Finland’s Nokia Oy and South Korea’s Samsung Electronics Co, analysts say.
“Operators have looked at alternatives, but have realized that Huawei is currently more innovative and probably better for 5G,” Fitch Solutions analyst Dexter Thillien said.
Portugal’s main operator MEO signed a deal with Huawei last month during a visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), praising the Chinese company’s “know how, competence, talent and capacity to develop technology and invest in our country.”
By contrast Norway, whose networks are for the most part made up of Huawei equipment, is thinking of ways to reduce its “vulnerability,” the country’s transport and communications minister was quoted in the local press as saying.
British Minister of State for Defense Affairs Gavin Williamson said he had “grave, very deep concerns about Huawei providing the 5G network in Britain.”
The Czech cybersecurity agency said that Chinese laws “force private companies with their headquarters in China to cooperate with intelligence services,” which could make them “a threat.”
Germany is under pressure from Washington to follow suit, Der Spiegel reported, but the country’s IT watchdog says it has found no evidence that Huawei could use its equipment to spy for Beijing.
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