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It was first reported in August last year that China may have banned Apple products for state purchases. The country didn’t provide an official explanation at that time and it was believed that China made this move following the revelations of widespread electronic spying by the NSA. A new report from Reuters reveals that China has indeed banned Apple, Cisco and other U.S. tech companies so their products can’t be purchased for state business.

Reuters has obtained a list of the technology vendors approved by China’s central government. The list doesn’t contain Apple, Cisco, McAfee and Citrix Systems.

This isn’t the first time that China has dropped the banhammer on technology products by U.S. companies. In 2014 the government banned its offices from purchasing the latest version of Windows, even security software from Kaspersky Lab and Symantec was banned.

There are two popular theories on why China might be doing this. Some believe the country really does want to shield itself from electronic spying by Western agencies, which would make perfect sense, others argue that China is only doing this to prop up local manufacturers by eliminating competition from U.S. tech companies.

This list doesn’t apply to China’s military, which has its own system of procurement approval, or state-owned enterprises. Local governments in the country don’t follow this list as well.

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