'Deep Discussion' Held Between Apple CEO And Chinese Regulator In Beijing, Says China


10/19/2019



According to the Chinese government, a "deep discussion" about a range of issues was discussed this week held between the Apple CEO Tim Cook and China's top regulator.
 
It was just a few days ago that Apple pulled out the HKmap app, a real-time mapping app that was used extensively by pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong, before the meeting between Cook and China's chief market regulator, Xiao Yaqing.
 
According to a statement posted on the website of the Chinese State Administration for Market Regulation, a wide range of topics "including expanding Apple's investment and business development in China, consumer rights protection and fulfilling corporate social responsibility" were covered in the talks. No further details were however provided by it and there was no comment available from Apple.  
 
China is the largest overseas market for Apple outside of the United States. Last quarter, the total sale of the company in the Greater China region was about $9.1 billion which accounted for about 17 per cent of the total global revenues of the company.
 
Following the availability of the HKmap in the App Store, Chinese officials had criticized the actions of Apple severely.
 
HKmap app makes use of a number of emojis to communicate what was happening across Hong Kong in real time. For example, a dog marked where police officers were present while a police car appeared where police vehicles were located and a camera marked out the location of a livestream.
 
Apple was criticized severely by the official newspaper of China's Communist Party and accused Apple of "escorting" the Hong Kong protesters in a commentary that was very biting. Soon after this, Apple pulled the app from the Apple Store.
 
It has been more than four months that pro-democracy protests are being held in Hong Kong which has resulted in a number of foreign companies – both from mainland China and the semi-autonomous city, being caught in the cross fire and their business being affected.
 
The removal of HKmap was defended by Tim Cook in a memo to employees last week. In the memo, the CEO argued that the app had been used in ways that "endanger law enforcement and residents in Hong Kong." Someone anonymously posted the memo on Pastebin which is a website that gives people a chance to post items without revealing their identities. The content of the text was later also confirmed by sources according to reports.
 
Soon after the meeting of Cook in China, Beijing is to hold a global tech companies at its annual World Internet Conference which was attended by the Apple CEO in 2017.
 
(Source:www.cnn.com)