China’s Apple iPhone Ban Appears to Be Retaliation, US Says
The White House said it believes China's moves to institute and expand a government ban on iPhones is an attempt to retaliate against the US as it weighed in for the first time on the backlash against Apple Inc.
“We're watching this with concern, clearly. It seems to be of a piece — of the kinds of aggressive and inappropriate retaliation to US companies that we've seen from the PRC in the past. That's what this appears to be,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters on Wednesday, referring to the People's Republic of China.
“The truth is, we don't have perfect visibility on exactly what they're doing and why, and we certainly would call on them to be more transparent about what they're seeing and what they're doing,” he added.
Bloomberg News reported this month that China plans to expand a ban on the use of iPhones to a plethora of state-backed companies and agencies, a sign of growing challenges for Apple in the country. Several Chinese agencies have begun instructing staff not to bring their iPhones to work.
The situation grew more muddled Wednesday, when Beijing contradicted reports about iPhone restrictions while also raising concerns about security problems with the device.
“China has not issued laws and regulations to ban the purchase of Apple or foreign brands' phones,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told a regular press briefing in Beijing. It marked the government's first comments on the issue, but didn't seem to refer directly to workplace bans of the device.
Mao said the government attaches “great importance” to security and that all companies operating in China must abide by its laws and regulations. “We noticed that there have been many media reports about security incidents
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