Apple CEO Praises China in Disturbing Announcement

(NewsReady.com) – The US relationship with China is currently on shaky ground. Between intellectual property theft, data theft, organ harvesting, and a whole genocide, America has plenty of reasons to keep the country at a diplomatic distance. Apple’s CEO Tim Cook doesn’t feel the same way.

The Financial Times reported Cook spoke at the China Development Forum in Beijing in March. During his remarks, he praised the communist country for its “symbiotic” relationship with Apple. He also said he “could not be more excited” about celebrating the company’s 30th anniversary in the country.

Cook told forum attendees that Apple has a “very large supply chain operation in China” in addition to its stores and millions of software developers.

Tim Cook praises Apple’s ‘symbiotic’ relationship with China https://t.co/V8HOd0acC7

— Financial Times (@FT) March 25, 2023

As Cook mentioned, Apple and China have been doing business together for decades. Numerous human rights groups have sounded the alarm about their relationship over the years. In 2020, The Information reported Apple took years to sever its ties with a company that relied on child labor to make its products. The company has also faced backlash for the poor working conditions workers are subjected to in some of the factories used by Apple suppliers as well as the use of Uyghur slave labor to make products.

In 2020, while Congress debated a bill to ban goods made by forced labor by Uyghurs, Cook’s company tried to weaken the protections in the legislation. The New York Times reported Apple hired Fierce Government Relations for $90,000 to lobby lawmakers about the Uyghur Forced Labor Disclosure Act of 2020 — the bill didn’t pass.

Cook’s remarks also come at a time when Congress and President Joe Biden are considering a ban on TikTok, an app owned by the Chinese company, ByteDance. The government is concerned about the communists possibly forcing the company to hand over its data. Meanwhile, Cook is bragging about his company’s own connection to that nation.