Apple CEO Tim Cook recently met with Chinese Communist Party members and praised China’s “innovative and inspiring” app developers in a cozy interview with Chinese state-owned media.
The Washington Free Beacon reports that Apple CEO Tim Cook met with Chinese Communist Party members and propagandists this month. Speaking from the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference, Cook praised the “innovative and inspiring” app developers of China in an interview with China Daily. The publication is a state-owned CCP mouthpiece that regularly defends the government and spreads disinformation about china’s genocide against Uyghur Muslims.
This move shows Cook’s readiness to compromise Apple’s core values around privacy and user data in order to continue operating in China. Apple has previously stated its dedication to human rights and privacy in the U.S. while complying with Beijing’s national laws around access to user data and ignoring the country’s human rights record.
Rep. Mike Waltz (R-FL) told the Free Beacon: “This further underscores the hypocrisy of corporate America, which preaches social justice at home and turns a blind eye when it comes to its profits. It’s absolutely shameful an American CEO would sit down with a communist, genocide-denying propaganda rag like China Daily.”
Cook noted that Apple’s app store has 5 million China-based apps, an increase from 4.4 million last year, and praised China’s developers as “at the cutting edge” and said he was “inspired” by their innovation.
Apple regularly blocks apps from its tore that might offend Chinese leaders and shares its Chinese customers’ sure data with authorities in the country. One China expert said that Cook has had to “kiss the ring” of Chinese government leaders as he “is desperate to hold onto any remaining scraps of the China market.”
In 2021, it was revealed that Apple had signed a secret “deal with the devil,” a $275 billion deal between the tech giant and the communist dictatorship to secure its business interests in China.
Breitbart News reported:
In 2016, Cook lobbied Chinese government officials over regulations that could threaten Apple services including the App Store, Apple Pay, and iCloud. Cook signed the deal with China during one of several visits to China that year after Chinese regulators’ actions tanked iPhone sales in the country.
A memo of understanding was created by Apple’s government affairs team in China alongside China’s National Development and Reform Commission to improve the company’s relations with Chinese leaders. Apple executives also made it a priority to meet with top Chinese government officials after the 2016 regulations affected iTunes books and movies.
The deal made Apple commit to helping Chinese manufacturers build the most advanced manufacturing technologies” and train workers. It also included promises to use Chinese suppliers for more parts for Apple devices, develop deals with Chinese software firms, work with Chinese universities, and invest “many of billions of dollars more,” than Apple was already investing in China.
Read more at the Washington Free Beacon here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan or contact via secure email at the address lucasnolan@protonmail.com