China: several ministries ban the use of Apple iPhones
A number of Chinese ministries have told employees not to use Apple iPhones in the workplace anymore , citing national security risks amid rising geopolitical tensions with governments, according to several people familiar with the matter. United States.
The orders were issued in August to employees of ministries dealing with investment, trade and international affairs, several well-informed sources said.
According to the sources, the measures were aimed at eliminating national security risks arising from the use of telecommunications devices manufactured by a US company.
A similar ban is believed to have been in place for some government entities for years, but the latest order expanded that ban.
Employees at these ministries have until the end of September 2023 to switch to other brands of phones for work use, a source said.
The South China Morning Post has learned that restrictions on the use of telephones have not been imposed on all ministries.
According to the sources, the order covers only the iPhone, which is designed in California, and does not involve other smartphones from foreign brands.
Apple's iPhone is also the only foreign-made smartphone with a dominant market share in China, according to the latest data from research institute Counterpoint Research. According to the data, the iPhone holds 17.2% of the Chinese market, the same as the Chinese manufacturer Oppo and only slightly behind the Chinese Vivo.
Similar bans have been imposed by Washington and its allies on Chinese telecommunications devices. The Biden administration has banned electronic equipment from Chinese tech giants Huawei and ZTE since November 2021 in an effort to "protect the American people from national security threats involving telecommunications."
Since November, many Western countries have decided to ban TikTok, owned by Chinese tech giant ByteDance, from federal government devices over fears that the data of American users could be handed over to the Chinese government if Beijing forces the company to do so.
Beijing's move to the iPhone, which has not been made public, comes amid growing disputes with Washington over trade, technology and espionage. A new anti-espionage law that went into effect in July bans cyberattacks against the government to obtain data and information "related to national security and interests" without authorization.
Furthermore, since 2017, cybersecurity legislation has required foreign companies to keep user data inside the country, leaving these companies the only option to comply if they want to maintain access to China's gigantic consumer market.
However, the move can be understood as a retaliation against the technological sanctions applied by Washington on the export of microchips.
Thanks to our Telegram channel you can stay updated on the publication of new articles from Economic Scenarios.
The article China: several ministries ban the use of Apple iPhones comes from Economic Scenarios .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/cina-diversi-ministeri-vietano-luso-degli-iphone-apple/ on Thu, 07 Sep 2023 07:00:02 +0000.