China gov't employee iPhone ban aims to curb Apple's market access -US lawmaker

A wider ban on China state employees from using Apple's iPhones is unsurprising and seeks to limiting a Western company's market access, the chair of the U.S. House panel on China told Reuters on Thursday.

"This is textbook Chinese Communist Party behavior—promote PRC (People's Republic of China) national champions in telecommunications, and slowly squeeze western companies' market access," U.S. Representative Mike Gallagher, a Republican, said in an emailed statement.

Reuters, citing sources, reported earlier that China has in recent weeks widened existing curbs on the use of iPhones by state employees, telling staff at some central government agencies to stop using their Apple mobile phones at work.