APPLE Cook Sucks Up to China in State Media Interview…

National Security

Tim Cook spoke to ‘genocide-denying propaganda rag,’ says congressman
Apple CEO Tim Cook speaks to ‘China Daily’ / YouTube Chuck Ross • June 29, 2022 4:40 pm

Apple chief executive Tim Cook met this month with Chinese Communist Party members and propagandists who enable Beijing’s mass surveillance, internet censorship, and other human rights abuses.
Speaking on the sidelines of the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference, Cook praised China’s “innovative and inspiring” app developers in an interview with China Daily, a Chinese Communist Party mouthpiece that has spread disinformation about China’s genocide against Uyghurs. Cook also held talks with an app developer who last year was appointed a secretary of the CCP and another whose photography app prohibits content that “subverts state power” or “undermines the national solidarity” of China.
The interactions highlight the kind of compromises Cook has made in order to do business in China. The tech titan has touted Apple’s commitment to civil rights and privacy in the United States while complying with Beijing’s draconian national security laws and ignoring its human rights record.
“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,” Rep. Mike Waltz (R., Fla.) told the Washington Free Beacon. “It’s absolutely shameful an American CEO would sit down with a communist, genocide-denying propaganda rag like China Daily.”
China Daily pays millions of dollars a year to publish its propaganda in American news outlets.
Cook’s interview with China Daily and meeting with Chinese app developers were part of his push to maintain access to China’s deep reservoir of tech workers. He said Apple’s app store has 5 million China-based apps, up from 4.4 million last year. He lauded Chinese developers as “at the cutting edge” and said he was “inspired” by their innovation. Cook’s remarks were a propaganda coup for China Daily, which reported that Cook’s remarks showed how “China will be of greater appeal to global tech giants in the future.”
To remain in Beijing’s good graces, Apple blocks apps from its store that might offend Chinese leaders and shares its Chinese customers’ user data with government authorities. One China watcher said Cook has had “to kiss the ring” of Chinese government leaders because he “is desperate to hold onto any remaining scraps of the China marke …