On January 8, 2019, the Polish National Security Agency arrested Mr. Wang Weijing, a sales director at the Polish Branch of Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei, together with a former senior officer of the Polish National Security Agency, for suspicion of espionage. Huawei immediately sacked Wang upon the news of his arrest being released.
Prior to this incident, when Huawei’s chief financial officer, Ms. Meng Wanzhou, and deputy chair were arrested in Vancouver on December 1, 2018, for fraud, Huawei and the Chinese government had vociferously defended Meng, demanding her release.
So why has the Chinese government treated these two cases with such different attitudes?
“As the financial chief of Huawei, Meng Wanzhou made false statements that convinced banks in the United States to violate U.S. sanctions; it’s a criminal offense of fraud in the banking institution. But Huawei’s headquarters could not say that they were ignorant of Meng’s actions and could not distance themselves from her case,” says U.S.-based Hu Ping, an honorary editor of Beijing Spring, a Chinese-language magazine dedicated to the promotion of human rights, democracy, and social justice in China.
“In the recent case of Wang Weijing, the Polish authorities had concrete evidence to be submitted for the judicial trial, which Wang could not deny,” Dr. Tianyuan, a current affairs commentator in the United States, told The Epoch Times newspaper.
“Huawei had to sacrifice Wang in order to protect itself and restore the company’s reputation. Huawei is trying to distance itself from this case. Wang Weijing being confirmed a spy of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) would mean a big blow to Huawei’s reputation,” said Dr. Tianyuan
“The CCP can afford to abandon both Wang and Meng if it serves them better. The difference between the two cases is that the arrest of Meng Wanzhou directly affected the CCP’s interests, whereas Wang Weijing was more disposable, being only an executive in the Polish branch of Huawei,” Dr. Tianyuan continued.
According to Dr. Tianyuan, these incidents clearly show that Chinese companies do not comply with the rules and regulations of the country in which they operate. The CCP is well known for recruiting various spies, from businessmen to students. If Wang Weijing is convicted and sentenced by Poland, it is but one additional spy case.
There has been an additional incident recently of an executive leaving Huawei’s Canadian branch. These cases are by no means isolated incidents; they are but small pieces of a larger puzzle of corruption.
Translated by Chua BC and edited by Emiko Kingswell
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