U.S. multinational investment bank Morgan Stanley has reportedly blocked remote access for its interns based in China, citing concerns over China's tough cyber security rules. 

The Financial Times on Thursday cited people familiar with the situation as saying that the bank was basing its interns in China in its offices in the country, where 80 percent of its staff had returned to work, taking away their access to work from home. 

The sources said the interns were originally set to do virtual programs like their global peers working for Morgan Stanley. 

The COVID-19 pandemic has drastically changed work habits, with a large number of workers around the globe working remotely to contain the virus, but interns in China haven't had the same access. 

Apparently cyber security has become one of the latest nodes on the long string of tension between China and the U.S., among many others including trade, technology and finance. 

"We have been able to provide an in-person experience for our summer interns in China this year with the COVID-19 situation stabilizing," said a Morgan Stanley spokesman. He declined to comment on the role cyber security rules played in the decision or whether the bank had concerns about the security of its technology system, according to the Financial Times.

The move has made Morgan Stanley an outlier among other global financial companies. 

Other large U.S. banks including Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase were still offering remote access and virtual internships in China. 

China's Cybersecurity Law, which took effect in 2017, is not aimed at limiting foreign companies' access to the Chinese market, the country's internet regulator said.

It is designed to safeguard China's cyberspace sovereignty, national security, public interest as well as the rights and interests of citizens, legal persons and other organizations, said the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) in a statement in June 2017.

"It does not restrict foreign companies or their technology and products from entering the Chinese market, nor does it limit the orderly, free flow of data," the statement said. "China is entitled to make laws and rules to regulate its cyberspace sovereignty following international practices."

In April this year, China released new regulations detailing how critical information infrastructure was subject to national security reviews, which took effect on June 1. Banks were also subject to new industry-specific rules that came into force this year on sharing customer data across borders.

According to a CAC official, the new regulations aim to safeguard the security of the supply chain of critical information infrastructure by spotting and avoiding potential risks and damages.

The move did not mean restricting or discriminating against foreign products or services, said the official, noting that China's policy of welcoming foreign products and services remains unchanged.

(Cover via CFP)