Appeasement much? Apple CEO Tim Cook visits Beijing amid heightened US-China tensions
Apple CEO Tim Cook
Amid heightened tensions between US-China, Apple CEO Tim Cook visited Beijing last week and praised the country for its innovation and long ties with the US. This was Cook's first visit to China since 2019. However, given the frosty relations between US and China, the visit's timing has raised a few eyebrows. The Apple boss was in the country to register his presence at the government-organised China Development Forum.
"Innovation is developing rapidly in China and I believe it will further accelerate," Cook was quoted as saying by Chinese state media.
“We have a very large supply chain in China. We also have a thriving App Store,” he added.
Prior to attending the forum, Cook posted a picture of himself with the customers and staff at the Apple store in the shopping district of Sanlitun on Weibo - China's Twitter-like social media platform.
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With China Unicom, the country's third-largest wireless network operator announcing it expects to launch 6G technology by 2025, some experts are of the view that Apple is aiming to appease Beijing through Cook's visit and his words of appreciation.
China is home to the world's largest internet user population and has been the biggest smartphone market for ages. Thus, despite the bitterness in US-China relations, Cook & Co. cannot afford to lose favour from Xi Jinping's authoritarian regime.
ALSO WATCH |TikTok denies transferring data to China, CEO says 'never shared users' data'
Moreover, Cook's visit came a day after TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew was grilled before a Congressional committee in Washington. The US lawmakers have been staunchly against the short-video platform, accusing it of being associated closely with the CHinese Communist Party (CCP).
Citing TikTok as a 'high risk' security concern, the Joe Biden administration has demanded that the Chinese owner of the app sell their stake or risk getting banned.
ALSO READ | EXPLAINED | Who is Shou Zi Chew? TikTok CEO attempting to save its US operations
The ByteDance-owned platform has been approached by Committee on Foreign Investment in the US or CFIUS and asked for divestment over national security concerns.
(With inputs from agencies)
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