Apple, Microsoft Targets of Chinese Media in U.S. Spat

China’s state-run media stepped up criticism of U.S. technology companies including Apple Inc. and Microsoft Corp. as tensions escalate over cyberspying and hacking allegations.

Apple, Microsoft, Google Inc. and Facebook Inc. cooperated in a secret U.S. program to monitor China, said a commentary on the microblog of the People’s Daily newspaper. China Central Television, the national broadcaster, said a provincial government was told not to buy computers with Microsoft’s Windows 8, and it quoted a professor calling the software a potential threat to China’s information security.