European governments are becoming more cautious about their policies towards allowing Huawei equipment into 5G networks, whether in response to the UK’s recent adoption of a more hardline approach, or because of escalating geopolitical tension which may lead to Chinese retaliation for US-inspired 5G sanctions. The major economies of France, Germany and Italy had stood against US pressure to ban Huawei outright, and had argued that they would conduct full security risk assessments and base policy on those. However, few of these assessments have been published (except the UK’s, which did not advocate a full ban in the RAN), but the major economies are sending out more US-compliant signals, while their operators may be inclined to play it safe and…