Symantec Corp and Kaspersky Lab have denied there were moves by China to exclude them from a list of foreign security vendors whose products are approved for sale to the country's government agencies.

China's official newspaper People's Daily reported early Sunday on its Twitter feed that the government procurement agency has banned Symantec and Kaspersky from the approved security software suppliers.

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Kaspersky, Russia's leading anti-virus software vendor, confirmed on Monday that officials in Beijing had executed an effort to restrict government purchases of software from non-Chinese companies.

Kaspersky spokeswoman Susan Rivera stated that the country's Central Government Procurement Center "temporarily" rescinded its endorsements of all foreign security providers.

She pointed out that the restriction only applies to national institutions that are funded by the procurement budget. It excludes regional government or large enterprises.

There is no evidence that the products from Kaspersky lab have been banned by the Chinese government, contrary to media reports, the spokeswoman added.

U.S. security software provider Symantec also said in a statement released on Tuesday that the company is aware of media reports about its exclusion on the Chinese government procurement agency list.

However, the security software company said that the list is only for certain kinds of procurement.

The company clarified that Symantec products are not banned by China's government. They are investigating the issues and keeping up efforts to win government projects in the country.

The People's Daily also posted a tweet that the procurement center provided five software vendors whose products are available for government purchases. Vendors such as Qihoo 360, Kingsoft and Beijing CA-Jinchen Software are included on the list.

A year earlier, the Chinese procurement center listed 12 security vendors, including Kaspersky, ESET, Trend Micro and Panda Security. "Hope Cloud," a Beijing-based vendor powered by U.S.- based McAfee, was also included together with local vendors Beijing Eastern Micropoint Info-Tech.

Meanwhile, a staff member at the central government office declined to give a comment on Monday, stating that he was unclear of the situation.

TagsSymantec Corp, Kaspersky Lab, People's Daily, China Procurement agency, Central Government Procurement Center, Qihoo 360, Kingsoft, Beijing CA-Jinchen Software, ESET, Hope Cloud, McAfee, Beijing Eastern Micropoint Info-Tech