BEIJING, August 04./ITAR-TASS/. Removal of Russian computer security company Kaspersky Lab from a list of approved anti-virus software vendors in China is temporary and applies only to the nation’s central government, a spokeswoman for the company’s office in Beijing said on Monday.

“The Chinese Central Government Procurement Center has temporarily rescinded its endorsements of all foreign security providers,” she told Itar-Tass. “However, this restriction only applies to federal institutions whose funding comes from the central government procurement budget, and does not include regional governments, state companies or public organisations.”

The spokeswoman confirmed that that Kaspersky Lab was engaging in conversations with Chinese authorities on that matter.

“Our company has always met all Chinese legal requirements,” she added. “Kaspersky Lab has long been providing advanced information security technologies to the Chinese government agencies at all levels.”

The state-controlled People's Daily newspaper reported the news early on Sunday on its English Twitter feed, saying the government's procurement agency had excluded US-based Symantec Corp (SYMC.O) and Russia's Kaspersky from a list of security software suppliers.

A second tweet said the government procurement office had approved the use of five anti-virus software brands, all from China. These are Qihoo 360 Technology Co, Venustech, CAJinchen, Beijing Jiangmin and Rising.

Kaspersky's exclusion comes after 11 years of company activity in China. In 2009, chief executive officer and co-founder Eugene Kaspersky received the National Friendship Award of China for his outstanding contribution to the country's computer security industry.