The glorious People’s Republic of China has continued it moves to purge cults from behind the Bamboo Curtain by banning the fruity cargo cult Apple.

The government has a list of products which are not allowed to be seen in its government departments and they include the iPad, iPad Mini, MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, and half a dozen other items. They have been added to the list since July, presumably because the government was not aware that there were any departments who felt they could afford Apple gear. Apple gear is really expensive when your department can’t even afford to upgrade from Windows XP and there are much cheaper tablets out there made by the likes of Lenovo which are a better deal than the iPad.

Apple being banned from official use was always going to happen. Chinese state media already declared the iPhone a "threat to national security" and there were articles about the evil Job’s Mob customer support and warranty conditions. However Apple had hoped that its deals with China Mobile might help establish it in the consumer market. Sadly that did not really happen either.

Of course the Tame Apple Press has been attacking China for what is actually a sensible decision.

“China seems to be on a mission to isolate itself from the world, at least in terms of technology,” sniffed Hothardware, forgetting where most of the world’s technology is made.

China wants to get away from foreign companies which might be acting as spying centres for the US government. This they have in common with the EU, which has also offered similar warnings. With a bit of luck the Apple cargo cult will go the way of Falun Gong and be replaced by some cheap good gear from Lenovo.