- National Security Council is watching issue with concern
- Beijing cites problems with the security of Apple devices
China plans to expand a ban on the use of iPhones to a number of state-backed companies and agencies.
Photographer: David Paul Morris/BloombergUpdated on
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.
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China’s Apple iPhone Ban Appears to Be Retaliation, US Says