Chinese government agencies, from national to local, will no longer allow Apple equipment. This may relate to the iPhone, but also to MacBook laptops and AirPods. The reason: China is said to fear sensitive information that could end up in the hands of the US government via Apple. Beijing has not confirmed these reports, and government officials contacted by RTL News did not comment.

Tesla is banned

Apple isn’t the first company to face spying concerns: Teslas have recently been banned from several locations. In June they were refused entry to the seaside resort of Beidaihe because the annual congress of the Communist Party was being held there. Teslas have multiple cameras everywhere monitoring traffic. China fears the cameras will also send sensitive images to Washington. This is why Teslas were banned earlier this year when Party Chairman Xi Jinping visited Chengdu and Hangzhou.

Tesla owner Elon Musk is doing everything he can to convince China of his good intentions. He previously told Reuters news agency that Tesla does not spy “neither in China nor outside it.” According to Tesla, all the data its cars collect in the country is stored at a location in China.

For Tesla, there is a lot at stake. The company’s “mega-factory” in Shanghai is very significant: the two millionth car rolled off the production line there this week since it opened in 2019. Not only the cars themselves, but also Tesla’s batteries, depend on China for raw materials. Material. Musk visits the country regularly for this reason and praises the country’s leadership.

important sales market

Apple also relies heavily on China. According to analysts, it is the third most important market for the iPhone manufacturer. And it is the only market in which the company still has to achieve significant growth: in 2021, the Chinese market has grown by 70 percent, several times more than other markets. For Apple, almost all iPhones and MacBooks are produced in China.

So the news of the government employee ban has a strong impact: Apple shares fell 3.6 percent after the revelations. Analysts fear further action against Apple, as well as against other Western technology companies.

According to Hu Xijin, a well-known nationalist blogger, both China and the US are becoming increasingly vigilant when it comes to national security: “With so many people working for the Chinese government and the public likely to follow suit, Apple will suffer,” he warns.

under the magnifying glass

While Western companies are subject to a magnifying glass in China, the opposite is also true. The popular TikTok app has been under fire for years in both America and Europe. There are concerns that TikTok, which is owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, could share sensitive data with Beijing. So far there has not been a complete ban, but Dutch politicians, for example, are advised not to use the app.

Electronics giant Huawei is also facing a difficult time. Because of US sanctions, the company cannot obtain advanced chips. But the company is now celebrating a victory on this front: against everyone’s expectations, Huawei will launch a new smartphone with an advanced 5G chip this week.

chips from china

Surprisingly, it was assumed that Huawei would not be able to obtain this technology due to the sanctions. Experts point out that the chips actually come from China, from SMIC in Shanghai.

At the same time, the phrase “Made in China” appears to be on its way out. Nowadays more and more are manufactured in Vietnam. In this video we explain how to do this: