Apple's Cook to China: Keep Opening Up to Preserve the Global Economy

BEIJING: Apple CEO Tim Cook has invited China to open its doors Saturday and said that the future would depend on global collaboration, while the United States and China remained locked in bitter commercial conflict.

"We encourage China to continue to open, we consider that it is essential, not only for China to reach its full potential, but also for the prosperous global economy," said Mr. Cook at the China Development Forum in Beijing.

Despite official promises and repeated badurances that China will continue to open its markets, some badysts fear that its reform plan will be slowed down or even stalled under President Xi Jinping, who sought to strengthen the control of the economy. and the role of public enterprises in private sector spending.

Cook's comments come as Apple slows sales in China due to shrinking smartphone market, increasing pressure from Chinese competition, and slower upgrade cycles. The company announced a 26% revenue decline in the Greater China region in the quarter ending in December.

Prior to the publication of these results, in a letter to investors in January, Cook criticized China's poor performance for China of trade tensions between the United States and China, suggesting that pressure on economy was hurting sales in China.

(Brenda Goh Report, John Ruwitch Writing, Edited by Robert Birsel)