MOSCOW, May 27 (RIA Novosti) – Beijing is urging national banks to replace IBM servers with domestically manufactured equivalents, as a dispute with the US over cyber-spying allegations escalates, Bloomberg reported Tuesday.
According to Bloomberg’s insight, Chinese government institutions, including the People’s Bank of China and the Ministry of Finance, are reviewing domestic commercial banks’ reliance on IBM servers, in an attempt to single out threats to the country’s financial security.
The news came shortly after China ordered state-owned enterprises to cut ties with US consulting companies, including McKinsey and Boston Consulting Group, which it has accused of providing trade secrets to Washington.
Reuters reported Beijing’s move on Monday, saying it targeted US companies with large operations in China and came days after the US Justice Department charged a number of Chinese government officials with cyber espionage.
Beijing earlier warned that it would retaliate if Washington pressed ahead with allegations that Chinese military officers had hacked into US corporations including Alcoa, US Steel and Westinghouse.
Following the charges, Chinese media said the US government was a “high-level hooligan.” Beijing has accused Washington of “double standards” on issues of cyber spying.
