Lenovo’s “attack and defend” strategy in China – especially in the wireless phone market where wireless broadband is coming – is intensifying.

China is the world’s largest wireless market, and the deployment of its first 4G broadband LTE {long term evolution] service is being tested now. ZTE, like Lenovo a China-born company, is the first manufacturer to win government approval for a 4G phone.

Lenovo is fighting Apple, Samsung and ZTE for market leadership in China as it prepares to roll out smartphone service in the U.S. in 2014. The world’s largest PC maker is counting on smartphone and tablets as well as other Internet-connected devices to expand its global business furhter beyond reliance on PCs. The attack and defend strategy refers to defending its China home turf while attacking new markets in terms of geography and products both at home and abroad.

ZTE announced the approval Sunday.

Apple, meanwhile, is trying to land a deal with China Mobile for its phones and has aggressive growth plans in China.

Lenovo, which announced a new smartphone – the Vibe X – just last week at a trade show in Berlin, has been making rapid strides in China’s booming cellular market over the past two years. It also is one of the world’s fastest growing smartphone sellers.

Samsung also is rolling out new devices.

However, ZTE, the world’s fifth-largest smartphone maker, said its Grand Memo handset was approved by China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology to run on the 4G TD-LTE network standard. ZRE is based in Shenzhen.

The statement didn’t say when the device, which runs Nvidia Corp.’s Tegra3 processor, will go on sale.

China Mobile, the world’s largest phone company by users, is conducting a trial of 4G service this year that will reach 100 cities covering a population of 500 million people, the carrier said in February. China Mobile plans to buy 1 million smartphones and data cards for the trial from companies including ZTE, it said at the time. Licenses for commercial service are anticipated by the end of this year, the carrier said in March.

The top five global smartphone vendors in the second quarter according to a ranking by International Data Corp. are: Samsung Electronics Co. with 30.4 percent; Apple Inc. with 13.1 percent; LG Electronics Inc. with 5.1 percent; Lenovo with 4.7 percent and ZTE with 4.2 percent.

Lenovo operates its corporate executive headquarters in Morrisville.

[LENOVO ARCHIVE: Check out eight years of Lenovo stories as reported in WRAL Tech Wire.]