Tim Cook, CEO of Apple Inc., speaks at the “First Tool-in” ceremony at the TSMC facility under construction in Phoenix, Arizona, USA on Tuesday, December 6, 2022.
Kaitlyn O’Hara | Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images
apple Chief Executive Tim Cook met with China’s Commerce Minister Wang Wentao on Monday to discuss stabilizing industries and supply chains, according to a Commerce Department statement.
“The two sides exchanged views on issues such as Apple’s development in China and the stabilization of the industrial and supply chains,” a statement from China’s Ministry of Commerce said.
Apple declined to comment on Cook’s activities in mainland China. Cook was one of the few top U.S. executives to attend the China Development Forum over the weekend.
Cook and Wen Tao’s meeting comes after months of lockdown and Covid restrictions in China. It went viral on social media.
Communist Party officials made it clear Reassuring company leaders and alleviating their concerns about production in China and reliable volumes is a top priority.
“China will unswervingly promote high-level opening-up and steadily promote rules, regulations, controls, standards and other institutional opening-up,” said the statement from the Wendao Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The meeting will reportedly take place as Apple works on the transition. Production outside ChinaMajor supplier Foxconn will open a large factory in Bangalore, India.
CNBC’s Hilary Pang and Eunice Yoon contributed to this report.
