Apple’s Tim Cook: No Point Yelling at China - Wall Street journal

Wall Street Journal

Apple’s Tim Cook: No Point Yelling at China

Tech exec defends pulling 674 apps at Beijing’s request, says change can't happen from the sideline

By Dan Strumpf

Dec. 6, 2017 7:28 a.m. ET

GUANGZHOU, China—Apple Inc. Chief Executive Tim Cook defended his company’s move to pull hundreds of apps from its China store to comply with Beijing’s demands.

Speaking in southern China on Wednesday, Mr. Cook said it was important to not be a bystander in the country, Apple’s second-most important market outside of the U.S. He rejected criticism from some senators and rights groups about his participation in the state-run World Internet Conference in Wuzhen earlier this week.

That event, organized by China’s powerful Cyberspace Administration of China, served as a venue for government officials to promote official views on the internet, in a country where technology and the flow of information are increasingly controlled.

“When you go into a country and participate in a market, you are subject to the laws and regulations of that country,” Mr. Cook said at the Fortune Global Forum on Wednesday in Guangzhou.

“Your choice is, do you participate or do you stand on the sideline and yell at how things should be,” Mr. Cook said. “My own view very strongly is you show up and you participate, you get in the arena, because nothing ever changes from the sideline.”

“From my American mind-set, I believe strongly in freedoms,” he said. “I also know each country in the world decides their laws and regulations.”

Mr. Cook was among an array of Chinese and Western business executives to speak at the three-day Fortune event, including Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. founder and Executive Chairman Jack Ma.

A day after defending China at the Wuzhen internet conference against complaints that it creates barriers against outside competitors, Mr. Ma took a swipe at the U.S. political system. He dismissed concerns about a possible looming trade war between the U.S. and China, saying “if trade stops, peace stops.” He said he tried to convey the importance of openness and global trade during a meeting with Mr. Trump earlier this year.

Mr. Ma drew a contrast between the U.S. political system and what he called a “system of stability” offered by the Communist Party government in China, saying “you don’t know who’s going to be the next president” in the U.S.

‘Your choice is, do you participate or do you stand on the sideline and yell at how things should be.’

—Tim Cook, Apple chief executive

Apple has been looking to revive its fortunes in China, where it is counting on its iPhone X to boost its smartphone sales there against increasing headwinds from domestic competitors.

In a letter last month responding to Senators Ted Cruz and Patrick Leahy, Apple said it removed 674 virtual private network apps, or VPNs, from the App Store in China this year at the request of the Chinese government. The apps allow users to circumvent China’s so-called Great Firewall to access blocked websites.

Mr. Cook said he hoped “a couple of things that have been pulled, come back. I have great hope on that and great optimism on that,” he told business and political officials Wednesday.

The event in Guangzhou, organized by the U.S. business magazine Fortune, featured speeches by a range of Chinese government officials, including opening remarks by Vice Premier Wang Yang, a top Communist Party official who was elevated in October to China’s powerful seven-member Politburo Standing Committee.

Mr. Wang stressed China’s continued openness to globalization. “China is ready to work with all countries in the world to formally promote further opening up, to enhance trade and investment liberalization and to unequivocally reject protectionism,” he said.

—Yoko Kubota contributed to this article.