Poland may Limit Use of Huawei Phones after Chinese Official Arrested for Espionage

A senior government official said on Sunday that Poland could consider banning the use of Huawei products by the public bodies, following the arrest of one Huawei official from China in Poland last week.

And the Polish Government also is considering passing legislation to limit the use of particular products if it poses any threat to national security. As of now, no such legislation or law is existing in Poland.

Huawei has been facing the ire of western countries as the company was allegedly involving in data theft and security breach on foreign soil. And the recent arrest of a Chinese employee of Huawei along with a former Polish Security official fuelled the western allegations.

But, the Government sources denied that the move to ban Huawei products is not the direct consequence of the arrest. And, he said that after the arrest, the use of the products in Poland for Governmental purpose would definitely be reviewed.

Karol Okonski, a digital expert of the Polish Government, said they would analyze the issue further and then decide whether the use of Huawei products will be totally ended or not.

He also added that the Polish Government did not have any legislation to limit the use of particular products or ban particular products for the public. And it could not be ruled out that in future Poland would see any such legislation for security reasons which would ban certain IT company’s products.

A spokesman for Poland’s security services said that the Polish security official who was arrested by the Internal Security Agency (ISA) had been responsible for issuing security certificates to the equipment to be used by the Government for public purposes. The suspect arrested, also has worked for a number of public institutions, held important managerial positions and was also connected with institutions that protect internal security.

And distancing itself from the incident, Huawei said that it had fired the employee and the allegation made by the Polish Government has no direct relation with the Company.

It should be reported here that Huawei has replaced Apple recently and became the second largest smartphone brand in the world after the Korean giant Samsung. However, it has faced multiple allegations and scrutiny for its relationship with the Chinese Government. The United States also alleged that the Huawei devices could be used to spy on foreign citizens and Governments by China.

However, no evidence could have been produced to sustain the allegation, and Huawei has been continuously denying the charges made by the western countries. And, in the meantime, several western countries have blocked access of Huawei products to their market.

Poland’s internal affairs minister, Joachim Brudzinski, has approached the European Union and NATO to work on a joint position to decide whether to allow or ban the entry of Huawei into their market.

He said that they were examining the readiness of the European Union and NATO countries to work on a joint proposition referring to the new generation (5G) technology telecommunication infrastructure.

In response to all these, China said that the western countries are adopting unnecessary protectionist measures to keep the Chinese growth limited and retain their importance in the market. And, it also added that the steps taken by the western countries are unfair and will be treated and responded with equal responses.