Huawei security concerns are more obvious after Poland incident

The Chinese mobile manufacturer and Telecom Company Huawei has become under a spotlight after the recent incident in Poland where the authorities arrested two people including one Huawei employee for alleged espionage the local Polish media and other international media outlets reported on last Friday.

However, the Polish authorities did not provide any evidence publicly, Polish Public TV channel TVP said that it raided Huawei local offices and the offices of Orange Polska Telecom Company. Orange Polska said in a statement that Polish security agency collected material related to an employee who it did not identify.

Huawei on the other hand denied the allegations of spying, China’s foreign ministry in a statement said, we are greatly concerned with the reports and they urged Poland to handle the case justly.

It was not the first time Huawei employee was arrested, Canadian authorities arrested Huawei’s top executive in December in order to conduct investigations related to U.S trade sanctions violations, which resulted in deeper trade tensions between the U.S. and China.

The West’s concerns about Huawei being controlled by Chinese government becomes more obvious after a series of incidents, this particular incident has compelled European and American countries to think twice about their security. China’s national intelligence law passed in 2017 which states that Chinese companies, people must cooperate with the government for the national intelligence work.

China also blamed the United Kingdom for Pride and Prejudice when the English country took serious measures against the company. Huawei in a statement criticized Gavin Williamson, Britain’s defense secretary, who blew whistle that Huawei’s role in the upcoming upgrade of the country’s mobile networks to 5G networks needed a serious attention and has to be examined “very closely” because of “grave concerns” about Chinese equipment potentially being used for espionage.

However, Huawei made it clear in the later reports that the company is fully prepared to meet the UK 5G demands in order to supply its services and equipment to the United Kingdom. The company has no pressure from the Chinese government whatsoever and complies with local rules and regulations.

The U.S. government is also putting pressure on Western countries to ban Huawei, President Donald Trump administration stepped pressure on Germany in this regard last month. The U.S. pressure increased scrutiny on Huawei and its efforts to initiate 5G network services in Germany, Bloomberg reported.

According to various reports, Huawei’s security concerns are being taken seriously by all the nations including Australia, New Zealand, Germany, UK, U.S and Canada. Huawei ban was started last month in European markets when Orange Europe and Deutsche Telekom Germany made statements against Huawei and their future 5G procurement strategies.

In the recent incident in Poland, Huawei’s top management has denied the allegations of espionage, and said, Huawei’s employee in Poland was arrested on personal grounds however, Polish authorities investigated two employees apprehended for the case for long hours and told BBC that Mr. Wang was company’s sales director according to LinkedIn profile and he worked as an attaché in Chinese Embassy in Poland from 2006 to 2011.

Today, Huawei has made a statement and said, “The alleged activity of Huawei’s employee has no connection with the company or Chinese government.”

The company has also fired its employee and issued arrest warrants for two men for 3 months and if they found guilty of spying they will have to face 10 years in prison. Whatever comes out of the investigation and prosecution, one thing becomes obvious, Huawei has become under a spot light after Poland incident, not only Western countries but also Middle Eastern and Asian countries would now become more vigilant and concerned about Huawei equipment and telecom services.