Apple CEO Tim Prepare dinner is in China this weekend, paying a go to to a neighborhood Apple Retailer and attending a state-sponsored “China enterprise summit.” As reported by Bloomberg, Prepare dinner is one in every of only a few US executives set to attend the convention, “underscoring the rising delicacy of doing enterprise in China within the present geopolitical local weather.”
In keeping with the report, Prepare dinner and Pfizer’s CEO Albert Bourla are among the many “few US chief attending” the China enterprise summit this week. In whole, “100 international representatives have registered to attend” the occasion, however the participant checklist is “mild on US corporations” this 12 months.
Different attendees from the US embrace Bridgewater Associates founder Ray Dalio and Invesco president Martin Flanagan.
Prepare dinner and Bourla are attending the convention in individual. This marks the primary time that the occasion has been held in individual since 2019 resulting from COVID-19 and China’s strict pointers in response to the pandemic. Prepare dinner attended the convention in-person again in 2019, as nicely.
The report explains:
Whereas US corporations could not have been the most important contingent in previous editions both, this 12 months’s tepid lineup is indicative of a need by American corporations to maintain a low profile round their company actions in China for concern of drawing undesirable consideration again house, in keeping with one Beijing-based government accustomed to their pondering.
Particularly, corporations don’t need to turn into a goal of the Choose Committee on the Chinese language Communist Occasion, a brand new congressional physique led by Wisconsin Republican Mike Gallagher, in keeping with at the very least three folks accustomed to the matter, who requested to not be recognized as a result of they’re not approved to talk publicly.
China hasn’t made the optics simpler for American companies. President Xi Jinping’s journey this week to Moscow, the place he was greeted warmly by Russian President Vladimir Putin — freshly accused of warfare crimes by the Worldwide Prison Court docket — can be weighing on the minds of executives, one of many folks stated.
Whereas in China forward of the China enterprise summit, Tim Prepare dinner additionally paid a go to to the Apple Sanlitun retail retailer, the place he took in a efficiency by Chinese language singer Huang Ling. Prepare dinner posted in regards to the go to on his Weibo account:
Great to see our wonderful clients and crew at Apple Sanlitun. Thanks to Huang Ling for the large efficiency. Good luck together with your upcoming tour.
In keeping with native studies, Prepare dinner additionally partook in a “Artistic Camp” session as a part of Apple’s “As we speak at Apple” retail initiative.
Prepare dinner’s go to to China comes as Apple is actively trying to diversify its provide chain past China. The corporate, together with companions like Foxconn and TSMC, is closely investing in new manufacturing services in India and the United States.
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