China: US politicians remind Tim Cook of his values

A bipartisan initiative that brings together representatives of the Democratic Party (such as Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, support of Bernie Sanders for the next presidential election) and Republican (Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, both candidates for the 2016 election).

They remind the CEO of Apple's comments in December 2018: " At Apple, we are not afraid to say that our values ​​determine our curation decisions ". At the time of this statement, it was not specifically about China, the news the previous months had revolved around the withdrawal of the app conspiracy American Alex Jones and the de-indexing of his podcast. Tim Cook received the "Courage Against Hate" award from the Anti-Defamation League, an anti-anti-Semitism organization.

After this booster, the authors of the letter point out that the application was withdrawn, in a context of brutal repression In Hong Kong had no other purpose than to allow peaceful protesters to share places to avoid and help them stay away from any risky situation ".

They add that according to a statement by a Chinese association, Apple has censored some 2,200 apps in China, including VPN (in 2017, a new law had targeted these applications) or from minorities oppressed by the Chinese government, such as than Tibetans or Uyghurs.

Again, these elected officials see in these acts a contradiction between what Apple promotes in terms of values ​​and what it does. Like all companies, Apple justifies itself each time by advocating its compliance with the laws of the markets where it is present:

You have stated publicly that you want to work with Chinese leaders to move in the direction of change rather than staying on the sidelines and screaming after them. We also believe that diplomacy and trade can be forces of democratization. But when a repressive government refuses to evolve or even does the opposite, cooperation can become complicity.

Recent news around the publisher Blizzard and the National Basketball Federation is cited as another example of Chinese interventionism " more and more aggressive In American business:

Events such as these pose a big question whether Apple and other major US groups will bow to increasingly stringent Chinese demands rather than lose access to just over a billion dollars. Chinese customers.

" Acts count more than words When it comes to defending values, conclude those elected officials who ask Tim Cook to reconsider his decision and to demonstrate that they place them above commercial considerations.

This Thursday Tim Cook was in Beijing where he met with the Director General of the State Administration for Market Regulation. Apple did not make a statement about the nature of the discussion while this administration stuck to a brief and general description.