Exports to China by US Tech Firms may be Impacted

An article from the Reuters news agency reports that US companies such as Cisco, Apple, McAfee and Citrix have all been dropped from China’s official list of approved products (a list used by Chinese government departments to equip offices and data centers across China).  Analysis by Reuters suggests that the number of foreign firms on the list as a whole has dropped by about a third. Companies making security-related hardware and software seem to have seen the biggest drop in support.

This move could be seen as a way for China to boost its native technical industry, however, it can also be speculated that one reason for the removal of the US equipment is ongoing allegations from NSA whistle-blower Edward Snowden about the extent of surveillance that US has been carrying out.

“The Snowden incident, it’s become a real concern, especially for top leaders,” Tu Xinquan, associate director of the China Institute of World Trade Organization Studies, at Beijing’s University of International Business and Economics, told Reuters.

US industry and technology groups have lodged official objections to the rules and have sought clarification of how they will work.

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