The Chinese government said Wednesday that Apple is committed to its presence in the communist country, amid Western concerns about technology supply chains connected to Beijing.
China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said Apple CEO Tim Cook met Wednesday with Minister Jin Zhuanglong to discuss tech development, network data security management, and cloud computing.
“Cook said that Apple is willing to actively seize the opportunities of China’s opening up to the outside world, continue to increase investment in China, and help the high-quality development of the industrial chain and supply chain,” the ministry said, according to an English-language translation of a post on its WeChat account.
Apple did not respond to questions about the meeting, but Mr. Cook has been documenting his jaunt through China on the social media platform Weibo. Mr. Cook has posted pictures and videos of his travels, including one with visual artist Chen Man.
“Nihao! It’s great to be back in Beijing with the talented Chen Man,” Mr. Cook posted.
Mr. Cook has limited options for communicating while in China because of government censorship.
The Chinese government reportedly ordered Apple to remove several communications apps from its app store in China earlier this year, including Signal, Telegram, Threads and WhatsApp.
The Columbia Journalism Review assessed Apple’s reliance on the communist country meant, “Apple’s censorship of whatever the Chinese government wants it to censor is likely to continue.”
Mr. Cook is squarely in the middle of a tug-of-war between China and those concerned about the Chinese Communist Party’s influence over technology companies.
For example, former President Donald Trump has raised the location of Apple’s manufacturing as an issue on the 2024 presidential campaign trail.
Mr. Trump, the Republican nominee, told the “PBD Podcast” last week that Mr. Cook added a site in Texas during the Trump administration because of policy concessions the former president made to help Apple compete with Samsung.
The former president said Apple would have added additional manufacturing in America if he had not left the White House.
China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, however, said Wednesday on WeChat that the ministry hoped Apple would grow together with Chinese companies.
Bringing Apple closer to its California home has emerged as a bipartisan issue in the U.S.
House lawmakers met last year with Mr. Cook, including representatives from the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party.
Rep. Ro Khanna, California Democrat, said then that his major concern was bringing Apple’s manufacturing back to the U.S.
Mr. Trump is similarly wooing Apple now, particularly Mr. Cook’s support. The former president said on the “PBD Podcast” that he spoke with Mr. Cook shortly before the interview and thought Mr. Cook was capable of accomplishing more than Apple co-founder Steve Jobs.
“I believe that if Tim Cook didn’t run Apple, if Steve Jobs did, it wouldn’t — maybe it would — it wouldn’t be nearly as successful,” Mr. Trump told the podcast.
• Ryan Lovelace can be reached at rlovelace@washingtontimes.com.
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