Telecommunications company Huawei has sacked a Chinese manager for bringing the company into disrepute after he was detained by Polish authorities on spying allegations.
Huawei's move to distance the company from the actions of Wang Weijing, its Polish sales manager and a former attache with the Chinese consulate in Gdanks, stands in contrast with its support for chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou on bail in Canada.
Meng is the daughter of Huawei founder, Ren Zhengfei.
Huawei is the world's second-largest smartphone maker and a private company. It is seeking to convince a growing list of western nations raising security concerns about 5G infrastructure that it is not under the control of the Chinese government or its intelligence service.
Wang and a former Polish security official were detained by the Polish intelligence agency on Friday in Poland. The Chinese ministry of foreign affairs said it was "highly concerned" about the arrest.
Some Chinese media commentators had warned in the nationalistic Global Times of coordination between Poland and the United States, which is seeking the extradition of Meng over Huawei's alleged breach of US sanctions on Iran.
But Huawei said in a statement on Saturday that Wang's “alleged actions have no relation to the company”.
“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," Huawei said.
“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.”
A senior executive at Huawei's Canada office meanwhile stepped down earlier in the week. Former 5G industry lobbyist and political candidate Scott Bradley would continue to assist the company as a consultant, Huawei Canada said.
Canada's arrest of Meng, and China's apparent retaliation in detaining up to 13 Canadian citizens in China, including a former diplomat Michael Kovrig and North Korean consultant Michael Spavor, has soured bilateral relations.
Poland, meanwhile is calling on the European Union and NATO reach a joint position on whether to exclude Huawei from their markets.
The Polish internal affairs minister, Joachim Brudzinski, said on Saturday that Poland wanted to continue cooperating with China but a discussion was needed on excluding Huawei from some markets.
“There are concerns about Huawei within NATO as well," Brudzinski said. "It would make most sense to have a joint stance, among EU member states and NATO members. We want relations with China that are good, intensive and attractive for both sides.”
The two Huawei arrests follows Huawei being blocked from involvement in the 5G rollouts in a string of western nations, including Australia, New Zealand and Japan, while intelligence services in Britain and Canada have also announced reviews into Huawei.
The United States, which views China's growing strength in technology as a strategic threat, has lobbied allies to ban Huawei from 5G networks on security grounds.
In the Czech Republic, a public dispute has broken out between the intelligence service and president Milos Zeman, after the Czech Cyber and Security Information Agency issued a warning about Huawei products without consulting the government.
