Apple’s Tim Cook meets high-profile Chinese official in Beijing
The CEO held talks with the State Administration for Market Regulation about expansion in China
Apple’s CEO Tim Cook recently met the director of the country’s State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR), according to an official announcement published by the watchdog.
It reads that Cook met with the chief of SAMR, Xiao Yaqing, and they discussed Apple’s further expansion in China and increasing investments, customer rights protection and corporate social responsibility. At press time, no further details on the meeting were provided.
The visit follows Apple’s recent action to remove from its App Store an app that was actively used by Hong Kong protesters to track police. Prior to withdrawing HKmap.live, Apple reportedly spoke to the Hong Kong Cybersecurity and Technology Crime Bureau which considered the app was a threat to public safety.
It was not immediately clear whether Cook would be attending the World Internet Conference, which he last visited in 2017. The conference will be held from October 18-20 in the Chinese province of Zhejiang.
China is one of the largest markets for Apple. Per Reuters, the tech giant was visibly affected by the trade war, as homegrown Huawei now dominates the local market.
Apple’s smartphone market share fell to 5.8 per cent in June in comparison to 6.4 per cent in the same period last year.
