The universal message that East and West can work together is a fundamental component of the relationship
The unstoppable rise of Apple, which hit the $1 trillion mark in market capitalization in August, as an indisputable global tech superpower has no end in sight. As fashionable as it has been for Western journalists to list entire nations whose GDP is smaller than Apple’s valuation, as of August it is estimated that the company is worth a whopping 1.25 percent of the entire world’s GDP.
To describe Tim Cook just as the CEO of a company would be an understatement. When he arrived in China several weeks ago, he was afforded the welcome and treated with the importance of a head of state.
The visit has proved healthy for the tech and trade relationship between China and the United States, and despite tariff friction, companies from the US, by Apple’s example, are still keen to work with promising Chinese markets.
Apple has, by and large, avoided the bite of tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump. However, it is still under increasing pressure from US isolationist policies to produce manufacturing plants in the US instead. “Start building new plants now,” Trump said in one Twitter post.
However, the situation is not so simple. Nor may it be beneficial to everyone during the costly trade conflict affecting both sides.
“For many American tech companies, Chinese President Xi Jinping is more important than Donald Trump because China is often their largest and fastest-growing market,” James McGregor, chairman of consultancy APCO Worldwide, told The Washington Post.
One-fourth of Apple’s cellphone sales take place in the Middle Kingdom, with the general consensus of analysts being that it is only a matter of time before the US is overtaken as the company’s largest market. So it is important that, amid talk of trade disputes and tariffs between East and West, visits such as Tim Cook’s highlight the extremely important relationship that the international technology industry has with China.
When Cook visited Chaoyang Future School in Beijing, the symbiotic relationship between technology and ideas flowing globally could not have been more evident. On his Sina Weibo social media account, Cook posted; “I’m incredibly impressed by the talent and passion of your students, teachers and staff.” The school was praised as a “truly model school”, using Apple technology to power interactive educational content. IPads and Apple Pens were seen throughout the classroom, providing a look at how children can accelerate learning.
Visits like this are important, spreading a positive message about how we can work together to create a better world for everyone.
Rising tariffs, meanwhile, have resulted in China standing its ground. Bloomberg News quoted Commerce Minister Zhong Shan as saying: “There is a view in the US that so long as the US keeps increasing tariffs, China will back down. They don’t know the history and culture of China.”
But forces are at play to push relations in the right direction. Since 2013, Cook has been a board member of Tsinghua University’s School of Economics and Management, acting as an adviser to the institution. Apple is also building a joint research center in collaboration with Tsinghua that will focus on the development of advanced technologies such as machine learning and computer vision.
Acknowledging that the East will soon be a world leader in such fields, this collaboration is beneficial for global development as a whole, since billions of people could benefit.
The universal message that East and West can work together is an integral and fundamental component of Apple’s attitude toward China and shows how important the country is to the company. This message has been well-received in the East. Li Qiang, Shanghai’s Party secretary, said: “We are willing to find mutual benefit and win-win results, and to inject new vitality into Shanghai’s development. We are hoping that Apple will play a bigger role in promoting exchanges and cooperation between Shanghai and the US.”
Most fitting, perhaps, is the Chinese saying “hai na bai chuan”, or “all rivers run to the sea”. Posted by Cook on Sina Weibo as a caption to his photo of Shanghai’s spectacular river skyline, the saying is often interpreted as a maxim of peace that calls for being tolerant and seeking resolution.
The author is a London-based columnist. Contact the writer at [email protected]
(China Daily European Weekly 10/26/2018 page11)