Chinese and US digitial policies don’t always see eye-to-eye. But China’s government agencies, including the People’s Bank of China and the Ministry of Finance, are now asking banks in China to remove the IBM servers over security fears.
Bloomberg reports that the Chinese government is worried that IBM’s high-end servers could compromise the nation’s financial security. The concerns are rooted in the ongoing dispute with the US over spying claims. The Chinese government is instead reported to be asking banks to remove IBM servers and replace them with new one manufactured by a local brand as part of a trial program.
Jeff Cross, a spokesman for IBM, explained that “IBM is not aware of any Chinese government policy recommending against the use of IBM servers within the country’s banking industry.” But the report does align with news over the weekend from the Financial Times, which suggested that China was to vet technology companies operating in China and order state-owned companies to cut ties with US consulting firms.
Really, it amounts to a slightly schoolyard tit-for-tat argument. Let’s see how far it can go. [Bloomberg]
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