Germany’s nuanced approach to approval and use of Chinese 5G equipment continues with the granting of security certification to ZTE’s 5G base station (gNodeB) by the country’s Federal Office for Information Security (BSI). The German move raises the question of whether Huawei’s gNodeB will also be granted approval, which would attract even greater interest as the firm is larger than ZTE and has been the primary focus of increasingly punitive US actions, and of US pressure on European allies to follow suit. This is the latest in a series of developments in Germany’s relationship with the two primary Chinese vendors in the 5G context, involving tensions with both the USA and the European Union. Germany was reluctant to adopt a…