Call for China to ‘punish’ US tech firms

Chinese state media hit out at Google, Apple and other US technology companies yesterday, calling on Beijing "to punish severely the pawns" of the US government for monitoring China and stealing secrets.

US companies such as Yahoo, Cisco Systems, Microsoft and Facebook threaten the cybersecurity of China and its internet users, said the People's Daily on its microblog, in comments echoed on the front page of the English-language China Daily.

It is not clear what sparked this latest round of vitriol, nor what information the US firms are alleged to have stolen.

But Chinese media have repeatedly attacked US tech companies for aiding the US government's cyberespionage since US National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden revealed widespread spying programmes including Prism.

Under Prism, the NSA seized data from companies such as Google and Apple, according to revelations made by Mr Snowden a year ago.

Domestic technology

Chinese state-owned firms have since begun dispensing with the services of US companies such as

IBM

,

Oracle

and Cisco in favour of domestic technology. As a result, Mr Snowden’s revelations may cost US companies billions of dollars, analysts say.

"US companies including Apple, Microsoft, Google, Facebook, etc are all co-ordinating with the Prism programme to monitor China," the People's Daily said on its microblog. – (Reuters)