[cityhantam]

https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202403/1309454.shtml

US business executives flock to China, defying Washington's call for 'decoupling'

During his closely watched trip to China, Apple CEO Tim Cook notably did not mince words when talking about the critical role China plays for the US tech giant.

"There's no supply chain in the world that's more critical to us than China," Cook said on Wednesday in Shanghai, where he opened the doors of the firm's largest-ever store on the Chinese mainland. Apple has been expanding and increasing investment in China, and its factories are much more modern, Cook said.

"I love China and the people," Cook said in Beijing on Sunday when asked whether he enjoyed his trip to China. At the China Development Forum (CDF), Cook said that his company's latest product, the Apple Vision Pro, will be launched in the China market by the end of 2024, and the company is continuously increasing research and development investment in the Chinese market.

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This same trend is visible at the CDF, a two-day forum that has drawn more than 110 international guests, including the heads of the World Bank and the IMF, as well as executives of many Fortune 500 companies. Most remarkably, of the more than 80 business executives listed by the CDF, over 30 - or about 40 percent - are from the US. In addition to Cook, many prominent US CEOs, including Cristiano Amon of Qualcomm, Darren Woods of ExxonMobil and Rajesh Subramaniam of FedEx, were in attendance.

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