China: a caminho de uma nova decadencia? - Bloomberg News

Como já aconteceu no passado imperial, os novos mandarins podem levar a China a uma nova decadência, ao tentar isolá-la dos perversos imperialistas.

Paulo Roberto de Almeida 

China excludes iPhones and tablets from Apple and Microsoft stuff from government procurement

China’s government excluded Apple iPads and MacBook laptops from the list of products thatcan be bought with public money because of security concerns, according to government officials familiar with the matter. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

China’s government excluded Apple Inc. (AAPL ▼ -0.49% 95.12) iPads and MacBook laptops from the list of products that can be bought with public money because of security concerns, according to government officials familiar with the matter.

Ten Apple products -- including the iPad, iPad Mini, MacBook Air and MacBook Pro -- were omitted from a final government procurement list distributed in July, according to officials who read it and asked not to be identified because the information isn’t public. The models were on a June version of the list drafted by the National Development and Reform Commission andMinistry of Finance, the officials said.

Apple is the latest U.S. technology company to be excluded from Chinese government purchases amid escalating tensions between the countries over claims of hacking and cyberspying. China’s procurement agency told departments to stop buying antivirus software from Symantec Corp. (SYMC▲ 1.53% 23.92) and Kaspersky Lab, whileMicrosoft Corp. (MSFT ▼ -0.67% 43.08)was shut out of a government purchase of energy-efficient computers.

The heightened scrutiny of foreign companies follows Edward Snowden’s revelations last year of a National Security Agency spying program and the May announcement of indictments by U.S. prosecutors of five Chinese military officers for allegedly stealing corporate secrets.

Kristin Huguet, a spokeswoman for Apple, declined to comment. The Ministry of Finance and NDRC didn’t immediately respond to faxes seeking comments about the procurement list, which doesn’t include smartphones.

Microsoft, Google

Apple Inc. iPads are displayed at the company's store in Beijing. Photographer: Tomohiro Ohsumi/Bloomberg

The register applies to all central Communist Party departments, government ministries and all local governments, according to the officials. The next review for the list will be in January, the people said. Products from Dell Inc. and Hewlett-Packard Co. were included on both lists, the officials said.

China said in May it would vet technology companies operating in the country for potential national-security breaches after the government threatened retaliation for the U.S. indictment of the Chinese officers.

The exclusions may add pressure to U.S.-China relations, which are strained by Chinese territorial disputes with U.S. allies such as Japan and the Philippines as well as economic competition around the world.

Microsoft said in May it was “surprised” to learn that its Windows 8 operating system was excluded from government purchases. The official Xinhua News Agency called it “a move to ensure computer security.”

China regulators opened an anti-monopoly investigation into Microsoft in July, seizing computers and documents from offices in four cities.

Microsoft, Google Inc., Facebook Inc. and Apple have been criticized by state media for allegedly cooperating with a U.S. spying program, and Qualcomm Inc. in November disclosed an investigation related to anti-monopoly law.

Last month, state-run China Central Television reported that features of Apple’s iPhone software may result in the leak of state secrets. Apple rejected those claims.

To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story: Steven Yang in Beijing atkyang74@bloomberg.net; Lulu Yilun Chen in Hong Kong at ychen447@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Michael Tighe atmtighe4@bloomberg.net Robert Fenner