MOSCOW, August 6 (RIA Novosti) – The Chinese government has excluded products from US technology company Apple Inc. from its procurement list amid escalating tensions between the two countries over hacking and cyber-espionage claims, Bloomberg reported Wednesday.
Ten Apple products, including iPads and MacBook laptops, were dropped from the list unveiled in July, the agency reported, citing officials who read it and wished to remain anonymous.
The register applies to all of China’s Communist Party departments, government ministries and all local governments, the officials told Bloomberg. The next review is expected in January.
The Chinese procurement agency has told the party’s departments to stop buying antivirus software from Symantec, Kaspersky Lab, while Microsoft was omitted from a government purchase of energy-efficient computers.
The scrutiny of US companies comes following revelations by former US National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden last year of a NSA spying program. In May, China also published a report accusing Washington of Internet surveillance on China’s government and business leaders.
Snowden earlier leaked documents saying that the NSA has spied on Chinese companies such as Huawei Technologies.
The latest move comes three months after China banned the use of US software giant Microsoft’s Windows 8 operating system on government computers, citing security concerns. Microsoft produces to 95 percent of operating system software in the country. Xinhua news agency said it was “a move to ensure computer security.”
In July, state-run China Central Television reported that Apple’s iPhone software might result in the leakage of China’s state secrets. Apple has rejected these claims.
Chinese media have accused Microsoft, Google, Facebook and Apple of allegedly cooperating with a US spying program, and Qualcomm in November was involved in a probe relating to Chinese anti-monopoly law.
