MOSCOW, May 20 (RIA Novosti) – Chinese authorities have banned government agencies from installing the Windows 8 operating system produced by US software giant Microsoft, the Xinhua news agency reported Tuesday citing the Chinese state procurement center.
The procurement document released last week announced that it is prohibited to install Windows 8 on all desktops, laptops and tablet computers used by government employees. The devices should be switched to any other OS instead.
The US Justice Department on Monday charged five members of Chinese military establishment with economic cyber espionage, accusing them of stealing trade secrets of six US companies engaged in nuclear and solar power and metallurgy, including Alcoa and Westinghouse Electric.
The statement did not specify whether the measures were being taken in response to the charges.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry responded by saying the US indictment was “made up” and would “damage Sino-American cooperation and mutual trust.” China’s Defense Ministry also condemned Washington for “hypocrisy and double standards” on cyber security issue.
The US government earlier stated that it would consider the possibility of trade sanctions against China if there is evidence that cyber-attacks on US companies and institutions are carried out with the official support of Beijing. Chinese authorities have argued that the country regularly falls victim to hacker attacks itself, with some traces of these attacks pointing to US involvement.
