back to article Huawei sales director nicked in Poland on suspicion of 'spying'

Polish authorities have reportedly arrested Huawei's sales director and an ex-security agency staffer on allegations of spying. Wray Hua-no-wei! NSA, FBI, CIA bosses put Chinese mobe makers on blast READ MORE National media reported that two people had been arrested, one of whom is reported to be a sales director at the …

  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    very worrying indeed

    Sent from my Honor 8X

    1. teknopaul

      I have huawei kit. I prefer to be hacked by the chinese govt than by the US.

      1. fidodogbreath

        I prefer to be hacked by the chinese govt than by the US.

        You'll probably get hacked by both of them in any case.

      2. Mr Benny

        Then youre just another idiot who thinks the enemy of someone I dont like is my friend. China is no ones friend - ask Taiwan.

        1. BillG
          Devil

          From The Seventy Maxims of Maximally Effective Mercenaries

          "29. The enemy of my enemy is my enemy's enemy. No more. No less"

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Yep, the Middle Kingdom complex which is still true even without an Emperor. Damned irrelevant worrying about PRC hacking though. Between OPM, VA and Equifax, the PRC already has my security clearance background check, medical records and credit record. And, by the way, Taiwan has always been there for us; I'd go in harm's way for them.

      3. DavCrav

        "I prefer to be hacked by the chinese govt than by the US."

        Yeah, those bastard Americans. Don't they realize that the correct way to deal with Islamic terrorism, or indeed if Muslims get a little bit uppity in general, not even terrorism, is to just stick them all in a massive prison?

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          If I were inside China I’d be more worried about the Chinese government spying on me (i.e. the giant prisons you refer to).

          If I were anywhere else in the world, I’d be more worried about the Americans spying on me because (a) death by drone, and (b) extradition treaties. Currently, China is not killing people outside its own teritory from the sky and I’m unlikely to be extradited there from anywhere else.

  2. Andy The Hat Silver badge

    "The allegations were that Huawei was using its kit to spy on other governments"

    And in the process broke Agencja Bezpieczeństwa Wewnętrznego's own spying equipment ...

    Would anyone care to spell that phonetically for us hard-of-Polish types please :-)

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re:Translation

      我相信你需要:

      内部安全局

    2. vonBureck
      Pint

      Would anyone care to spell that phonetically for us hard-of-Polish types please :-)

      Are you sure you want this? :)

      OK, you asked for it: agentsya bespyecheynstva vevnentshnego (approximately, full IPA transcription available on request)

      Icon because of IPA...

      1. tim 13

        The clue's in the name

        Agentsya Bespyecheynstva Vevnentshnego

  3. Steve McGuinness

    24 Hours to Go

    Before China arrests a senior Polish diplomat, or a senior Polish company executive and accuses them of spying or some other offence.

    Because its not like this shit is predictable ....

    1. sanmigueelbeer

      Re: 24 Hours to Go

      Depending on how "well connected" this Chinese national is, I'd expect a tit-for-tat from China. Expect a Polish national (or a few) to be barred from leaving the country. (Two can play this game.)

      However, is this person happens to be a Chinese Intelligence pretending to work for the company, then things are really going to heat up very nicely.

  4. Will Godfrey Silver badge
    WTF?

    Niot convinced

    The whole Huawei situation looks just too 'convenient'. Clearly some people see them as a threat, but I wonder what it is they are really concerned about.

    1. Aitor 1

      Re: Niot convinced

      They probably refused to install some stuff? They are too competitive? both?

      1. DavCrav

        Re: Niot convinced

        "They probably refused to install some stuff?"

        So they arrested one dude from Huawei, and also just for fun an ex-member of the Polish intelligence community?

        I really don't understand you lot. If a Western person is arrested for spying, he's obviously a spy. If a Chinese person is arrested for spying, it's obviously because he refused to spy for the West.

        Maybe, you know, Chinese people also spy? Otherwise, that really big agency in Beijing is full of people who are rubbish at doing their jobs.

      2. Azerty

        Re: Niot convinced

        Huawei would install anything required by law I think. Maybe this is more about the US intel just don't want to explain all the details to Huawei how the five eyes spy on everyone, especially China?

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Niot convinced

          There is also possibility for the angle that the local fascists currently in power needed a scape goat to distract from their own machinations, another spat with Israel, extermination of another species or more fines from Brussels.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Niot convinced

      Investor Confidence perhaps: Recently, "Ericsson B" was tanking over a several Billon SEK write-off from Ericssons "Digital Services Strategy". Whatever the NSA is paying for access, they are being undercut by the Chinese?

  5. steviebuk Silver badge

    So....

    .....Huawei are bad and possibly spying cause they are Chinese but we'll carrying on buy Apple kit that is also exclusively made in China and not chance the Chinese aren't planting bugs in those that Mr Cook doesn't know about. And all other electronics that are made in China.

    Why are the singling out Huawei? Is it because it's a Chinese company that hasn't stolen its IP for a change (although at some point maybe they have) so the West is worried?

    Lets also not forget all the cheap security cameras on Amazon that are made in China and controlled by Chinese companies (Clever Dog comes to mind).

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Big Brother

    Escalating concerns among western governments?

    The arrests mark escalating concerns among western governments about the Chinese company's activities.”

    Given other actions against Russia and China is this part of a strategy coming out of Washington to restart the Cold War?

    The allegations were that Huawei was using its kit to spy on other governments

    And that's our sole remit said the NSA ref ref ref

    1. DavCrav

      Re: Escalating concerns among western governments?

      "Given other actions against Russia and China"

      Would that be where some dastardly British people deliberately threw themselves all over those poor innocent Russians' bottles of deadly toxin? Or where those Chinese soldiers got all lost and accidentally built an airbase on the artificial island they accidentally built?

  7. Will Godfrey Silver badge

    An interesting detail - or two

    From the BBC website:

    A person with knowledge of the case confirmed that a Huawei employee called Wang Weijing - also known as Stanislaw Wang - had been arrested but not charged.

    Also:

    Stanislaw Zaryn, a spokesperson for Poland's Internal Security Agency (ISA), told Reuters that Mr Wang's arrest "doesn't have anything to do with the company he works for".

  8. This post has been deleted by its author

  9. sanmigueelbeer
    Flame

    Huawei sacks employee arrested in Poland on spying charges

    This is a weird turn of events: Huawei sacks employee arrested in Poland on spying charges from Reuters, BBC.

    China’s Foreign Ministry has expressed concern over the case and is urging Poland to handle the case “justly.”

    Uh-huh, sure.

  10. JJKing
    Facepalm

    NEWS FLASH

    Polish citizen arrested in China.

    1. Peter2 Silver badge

      Re: NEWS FLASH

      Mmmm.

      "newsflash: polish citizen arrested in China, following the recent arrest of a Canadian citizen following well publicised arrests of Chinese citizens"

      "newsflash: expat workers leaving China as quickly as contractually possible. One worker commented to imaginary news "i'm not doing 20 years in prison just because somebody got arrested on the other side of the planet, I can get the same pay in other countries!"

      "newsflash: China hit by massive skills crisis as foreign workers flee China"

      "newsflash: China economic growth drops sharply, amid skills crisis."

      "newsflash: Chinese government launches a study to consider factors that may be driving foreign workers to leave China, promising to discover and resolve factors driving away workers. Asked if this represents a change of policy towards prosecuting random foreign workers in China when their governments upset the Chinese government the spokesman said "no comment" but off the record senior sources say that they recognise that "it was a serious mistake made by a junior staff member without adequate supervision"

      1. Pascal

        Re: NEWS FLASH

        It's funny how some people think China is that retrograde country filled with such incompetent populace that its economy would collapse and it would lose all skills needed to do anything relevant if a few expat workers were to leave.

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