One of the many questions hanging over China’s ZTE after the US brought it to the brink of collapse is: why ZTE?

The Shenzhen-based telecoms group became the corporate face of Sino-US trade and tech wars when Washington slapped it with a punitive ban on buying vital components from the US. Though formally a punishment for failing to impose earlier American penalties over its sanction-busting sales to Iran, the timing and accompanying rhetoric left little doubt that ZTE was a pawn in a bigger game.

Unlike the much larger Huawei, ZTE’s kit has never been banned and it has drawn fewer concerns. Indeed, its handsets are America’s fourth most popular. While it operates in the key tech sector, it is not at the forefront of Beijing’s drive into AI and other cutting-edge technologies. Its smartphones are relatively thin on the ground in China and, far from championing it, the country’s state-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission has slammed the company for its “stupid and passive” actions.