Photo: Courtesy of Ministry of Commerce

China's Commerce Minister Wang Wentao on Friday met with Apple CEO Tim Cook in Beijing, welcoming the US-based tech giant to seize opportunities and expand in the Chinese market and vowing to further optimize the business environment and provide high-quality services for foreign businesses.

For his part, Cook said that China's rapid development has helped Apple achieve fast and sustainable growth, pledging to increase investment in supply chain, R&D and other areas, according to a statement issued by the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM).

During the meeting, Wang said the Third Plenary Session of the 20th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China has made systematic arrangements for improving systems and mechanisms for high-level opening-up. China has also recently introduced new opening-up policy measures and has effectively moved to address issues of concern for foreign businesses, Wang said.

On the China-US economic and trade cooperation, the Chinese Commerce Minister also stressed that mutually beneficial and win-win cooperation between China and the US is in the fundamental interests of the two countries and is a stabilizing force for the bilateral relationship.

"Overstretching the concept of national security is not conducive to normal economic and trade exchanges," Wang said, adding that China stands ready to engage in regular official and business exchanges to help the China-US economic and trade relationship return to the path of sound and stable development.

In addition to striving for long-term development in the Chinese market, Apple is also willing to continue to play a bridging role in promoting communication and exchanges in the economic and trade fields between China and the US, according to the MOFCOM statement.

The meeting between Wang and Cook came as the Apple CEO is paying a visit to China, his second trip to China so far this year, during which he met with senior Chinese officials and businesses executives.

Also on Tuesday and Wednesday, Jeff Williams, Apple's Chief Operating Officer, visited the company's production bases and automated equipment suppliers in the cities of Suzhou (East China's Jiangsu Province) and Changsha (Central China's Hunan Province), including a Luxshare factory in Suzhou that assembles the iPhone 16 series.

According to Williams, over the past five years, Apple has invested as much as $20 billion in smart manufacturing and green manufacturing in China. "Some of the most advanced automation in the world is happening in China," he told the Xinhua News Agency.

Currently, over 80 percent of Apple's 200 major suppliers have factories in China, according to Xinhua.

"Visits by Cook and Williams in China reflect Apple's emphasis on the Chinese market and its determination to optimize the supply chain," Wang Peng, an associate research fellow at the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Friday.

Given Apple's long-term strategy in the Chinese market and its continuously growing business demands, it is believed that the company may establish new production lines, R&D centers, or engage in more in-depth cooperative projects with other Chinese companies in the future, Wang Peng noted.

In addition to its vast market and complete supply chain, China's economy has maintained stable growth over the long term, while the Chinese government has been committed to optimizing the business environment, providing a stable market environment and growth expectations for multinational corporations like Apple, Wang Peng said.