Polish trial begins in Huawei-linked China espionage case

An espionage trial involving a former Polish secret services agent and an ex-employee of Huawei begins in a Warsaw court on Tuesday as some European states consider whether to exclude the Chinese group's equipment from their 5G telecom networks.

Poland arrested the two men in January 2019 on suspicion of spying for China, in a move that has ramped up international debate over the potential security risks of using Huawei equipment in communications networks.

Huawei has repeatedly denied its equipment can be used for espionage by authorities in Beijing, but the United States has been pressuring countries to ban it.

Polish prosecutors allege that Wang Weijing, 39, using the cover of being a Huawei executive, spent more than seven years spying for China trying to bolster the company's ability to influence the Polish government and "Enable it to... manage the state... technology infrastructure", court documents show.

Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki's government proposed draft legislation last year that could lead to a de facto exclusion of Huawei from building 5G networks, but the proposal has yet to be discussed by parliament.

European mobile operators have long been reluctant to start investing in 5G networks, which could support smart factories and self-driving cars, because of a lack of political clarity about whether they must accede to U.S. demands to exclude leading equipment supplier Huawei and other Chinese vendors.

Romania's government also approved a bill that effectively bars China and Huawei from taking part in the development of its 5G network in April, but it still needs parliament's upper house approval, considered to be a rubber-stamp.
 

https://www.reuters.com/world/china/polish-trial-begins-huawei-linked-china-espionage-case-2021-05-31/