“The Western security agencies seem to be dancing to slightly different tunes. While they all recognise a potential security risk, the US approach seems to be getting entangled with issues of trade and [intellectual property rights],” said John Ure, director of the Telecommunications Research Project at the University of Hong Kong and author of Telecommunications Development in Asia.

“By contrast the Europeans seem to be more concerned with avoiding a 5G stalemate and finding ways to avoid a general trade war.”