China has ordered officers at central authorities businesses to not use Apple’s iPhones and different foreign-branded units for work or carry them into the workplace, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, citing folks acquainted with the matter.

The orders got by superiors to their workers in latest weeks but it surely wasn’t clear how broadly the orders had been being distributed, the WSJ mentioned.

The report didn’t identify different phonemakers apart from Apple. China’s State Council Information Office couldn’t be instantly reached for remark and Apple didn’t instantly reply to a Reuters’ request for remark.

China has lately grown extra involved over information safety and has rolled out new legal guidelines and compliance necessities for firms.

In May, the nation had urged massive state-owned enterprises (SOEs) to play a key function in its drive to achieve self-reliance in know-how, elevating the stakes within the race amid rifts with the United States.

Sino-U.S. tensions have been excessive as Washington works with allies to dam China’s entry to very important tools wanted to maintain its chip trade aggressive and Beijing restricts shipments from distinguished U.S. corporations like planemaker Boeing and chip firm Micron Technology.

(This story has been refiled to repair the syntax in paragraph 2 and a spelling in paragraph 3)

(Reporting by Baranjot Kaur in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D’Souza)