China bans employees of certain ministries from using iPhones.
The mobile war is thus escalating.
In the past, the United States and other Western countries have banned government employees from having Tiktok on their work phones. And refused to buy telecom equipment from Huawei and ZTE.
A handful of Chinese ministries have told employees to stop using iPhones at work, citing risks to national security. This is reported by the Hong Kong-based newspaper South China Morning Post on Wednesday, in an article based on sources.
It is about the tensions between China and the United States. It is the American company Apple that designs and has iPhones manufactured. Once upon a time, all manufacturing was in China, but the company has moved some of the manufacturing to other countries, like India.
The new Chinese decision came in August and means that employees of ministries dealing with investment, trade and international politics must switch to a different phone brand before the end of September/October, according to the newspaper.
A similar ban on iPhones is believed to have been in place for years with some government agencies, but the latest order has expanded that ban, the South China Morning Post reports.
“Apple’s iPhone is also the only foreign-made smart phone with a large market share in China,” the newspaper writes, referring to the fact that the phone has 17 percent of the Chinese market.
Previously limited use of foreign technology
China is acting after the United States and many European countries, including Sweden, have banned the Chinese companies Huawei and ZTE from selling telecom equipment there.
Several Western countries, including Sweden, have also banned some government employees from using the Tiktok app, owned by Chinese tech giant Bytedance, on their work phones. Behind it is a fear that China will force the company to hand over the users’ data.
The iPhone decision is not the first of its kind in China. The country has also previously restricted the use of foreign technology due to national security concerns.
Two years ago, Beijing banned the American electric car Tesla from entering government and military facilities, fearing espionage, according to the South China Morning Post. A ban that still applies, according to the newspaper’s sources.