China has now banned the use of iPhones and smartphones manufactured by foreign countries from being used by public servants, according to a WSJ report. In addition to no longer being usable, iPhones and foreign devices are also prohibited from being brought into their offices on duty.
So far only Apple devices are listed but the list of foreign devices is not known. This is seen as retaliation by China against Western countries that have banned the installation of the TikTok app on smart devices issued by the government to civil servants. In addition, the United States has also started efforts to ban the operation of TikTok in their country for security reasons.
China wants to reduce its dependence on technology from outside and this is one of the first steps it has taken. Their move is similar to the one recently taken by Russia which also banned the use of iPhones by civil servants.
The cold war between China and the United States has already caused Huawei to lose the 5G contract so that their equipment is banned in several EU countries and will be removed by Germany in the near future.