Prosecutors in Taiwan have issued an arrest warrant for Pete Lau, founder of OnePlus and current Chief Product Officer at Oppo, accusing him of running illegal recruitment operations on the island. According to the indictment, Lau is alleged to have orchestrated, starting back in 2014, a scheme through which he illegally hired more than 70 top Taiwanese engineers. Taiwanese law is extremely strict when it comes to companies from mainland China operating on the island. It appears that OnePlus used more than 72 million dollars to fund this operation.
In addition to the warrant issued for Pete Lau, prosecutors have also charged two Taiwanese citizens who allegedly helped him set up the local infrastructure. They admitted they were just names on paper and that all operational decisions came directly from Pete Lau, from the headquarters in Shenzhen. The engineering team in Taiwan worked exclusively on software development for OnePlus and Oppo phones, without having any local clients. For Taiwan, protecting intellectual property and local experts is a matter of national security. By using shell companies or improperly declared branches, Chinese companies sometimes manage to tap into local expertise without complying with the strict regulations imposed by the Taiwanese government.
At this point, Pete Lau is officially wanted by the Taiwanese authorities, with a warrant issued for his apprehension. Although it is unlikely that he will be extradited from China anytime soon, the situation will severely restrict his freedom of international movement and could cast a shadow over the global partnerships of OnePlus and Oppo.
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