Apple maintains a “symbiotic” relationship with China, Apple CEO Tim Cook said on Saturday while in the country for the China Development Forum, a state-sponsored event attended by senior government officials and business leaders, AFP reported.

“It’s kind of a symbiotic relationship that I think both sides have won,” he said in an interview about the role of technology in education, adding, “Apple and China have grown up together.”

Tim Cook’s comments came as Apple, the world’s largest company by market capitalization, seeks to move manufacturing operations out of China.

In 2022, Apple’s product sales suffered due to factory production restrictions due to China’s “zero COVID” policy.

US controls on exports of high-tech components also threaten Apple’s supply chain.

This is a topic that Cook did not address.

The head of Apple, however, emphasized the need to reduce the educational gap between urban and rural schools. He also encouraged young people to learn programming and develop critical thinking skills.

Cook pledged to increase Apple’s spending on an education program in rural China to 100 million yuan (13.5 million euros).

On Friday, he visited an Apple Store in central Beijing, taking a selfie with singer Huang Ling that went viral on Chinese social media.

(illustrated article by DreamsTime.com)