Germany is considering following in Australia's footsteps and blocking the controversial Chinese tech firm Huawei from taking part in buildings its next generation mobile phone system.

"We are conducting a thorough interdepartmental analysis of how we could amend the security requirements in a way that would affect Huawei," said an official with Germany's cyber-security watchdog Federal Office for Information Security to teh Wall Street Journal.  "There are serious concerns about the building of a 5G infrastructure including warnings about back doors in hardware components, data flows.. this would affect everything from communication to self-driving cars."

Germany is one of Huawei's most important foreign markets, and its European headquarters are in the German city of Dusseldorf.  The interior ministry in Berlin had previously said it opposes banning any suppliers from its 5G network, but recent events have the government considering stricter security requirements that would exclude Huawei.

The US has been pressuring allies to get tough on Huawei amid fears that its technology could be used for espionage, effectively opening a direct link between a country's cellular network and Chinese state security.  New Zealand has also blocked Huawei telecom gear.  The University of Oxford suspended new donations and sponsorships from Huawei in light of "public concerns" surrounding partnerships with the company.  And Poland in recent days arrested a former senior Polish security official and a Huawei sales director in that country, and charged them with spying for China; Huawei promptly fired the sales director.

A Huawei spokesman in Europe said, "Politicization of the 5G issue is proceeding in several European countries," adding, "Limiting access to certain market players means prices would go up and innovation would slow down."