China says it hasn’t banned iPhones or overseas gadgets for presidency

China has not instituted any legal guidelines or rules prohibiting authorities staff from utilizing or shopping for overseas telephones, the Chinese language overseas ministry mentioned Wednesday, addressing media reviews that mentioned authorities staffers had been banned from utilizing Apple iPhones.

“China has not issued any legal guidelines, rules or coverage paperwork prohibiting the acquisition and use of cell phones from overseas manufacturers comparable to Apple,” a Ministry of International Affairs spokesperson mentioned at a usually scheduled briefing in Beijing Wednesday.

Apple shares dipped as a lot as 4% final week after The Wall Road Journal reported that staffers at central authorities companies had been banned from utilizing iPhones for work and even from bringing the smartphones into authorities places of work, citing individuals acquainted. Bloomberg reported that China deliberate to increase the ban to government-backed companies and state-owned enterprises, citing individuals acquainted.

The Journal reported that the directions got out verbally or in discussion groups however that there was not formal steering on the matter. The International Ministry particularly denied the existence of any official coverage barring overseas cellphone use however didn’t deal with the casual steering reported by the Journal.

Apple shares have been flat firstly of buying and selling Wednesday, a day after the corporate introduced the brand new iPhone 15.

The response from the International Ministry spokesperson additionally famous unspecified “safety incidents” linked to iPhones.

“We’ve certainly seen just lately that many media have uncovered safety incidents associated to Apple cell phones,” the spokesperson mentioned. “The Chinese language authorities attaches nice significance to data and community safety.”

–CNBC’s Eunice Yoon contributed to this report.