A wider ban on China state employees from using Apple’s iPhones is not surprising and seeks to limit a Western company’s market access, the chairman of the US House panel on China told Reuters yesterday.
“This is textbook Chinese Communist Party (CCP) behaviour – promote PRC (People’s Republic of China) national champions in telecommunications, and slowly squeeze western companies’ market access,” US Representative Mike Gallagher said in an emailed statement.
“American tech companies seeking to cozy up to the CCP must realise the clock is ticking,” added Gallagher, a Republican.
China in recent weeks has widened curbs on the use of iPhones by state employees, telling staff in at least three ministries and government bodies to stop using their Apple mobile phones at work, Reuters reported yesterday, following earlier reports by the Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg.
Apple’s shares have slipped amid the reports amid fears of tit-for-tat action as Sino-US tension rise. Shares of the company were down about 3 per cent in midday trade yesterday.
Apple and China’s State Council Information Office, which handles media queries on behalf of the government, have not responded to requests for comment on the reported ban.
Against a backdrop of tensions between Beijing and Washington, the extension of a ban imposed more than two years ago signals growing challenges for the US company, which relies heavily on China for revenue growth and manufacturing.
Staff in at least three ministries and government bodies were told not to use iPhones at work, said sources familiar with the matter, who declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the situation.
One of the sources said they had not yet been given a deadline to cease their iPhone use.
It was not immediately clear how widely the ban was being enforced, with a third source at one of the three ministries saying he was still using an iPhone and had not yet heard about the restriction.
A fourth source, at a Chinese regulatory body, said they had not been explicitly barred but were told they would be held responsible should any issues emerge with their use of iPhones.