China's Ministry of Commerce has urged the United States to "create fair, just, and stable legal and policy environment for Chinese companies", with regards to the ZTE decision.

And perhaps more notably, it also said it was prepared to take action to protect the interests of Chinese firms.

ZTE is not the only Chinese tech firm that's been targeted by the West.

China's Huawei, for example, has been blocked from striking a deal to sell its new smartphone via a US carrier over security concerns.

And Broadcom, a firm formerly domiciled in Singapore, had its bid to takeover Qualcomm blocked because of US national security concerns that specifically cited Huawei and Chinese technology.

At the crux of this is a suspicion that Chinese companies are the eyes and ears of the Chinese government in Western markets.

Whether those suspicions are warranted is hard to prove, but "there is no question that telecom and communications is a valid security risk", Mr DeAngelis told me.