The uncertainty about the position of the Chinese vendors in 5G markets continues to mount, with reports that ZTE may have contravened US trade rules again, and New Zealand the latest country to put restrictions on Huawei. News agency Reuters has obtained a letter from two US senators, requesting that the government investigates whether ZTE worked with individuals on the Department of Commerce’s blacklist. Previously, ZTE incurred sanctions – including a short-lived but disastrous ban on access to US components – for dealing with barred countries such as North Korea. The new reports relate to Venezuela. The senators claim ZTE has been helping the Venezuelan state build a database to support an ID card called ‘the fatherland card’. According to…