Apple had to turn over all info on its China customers

 John Sexton:

He warned Apple they were too dependent on China but Apple didn't listen

 The NY Times describes Doug Guthrie as “one of America’s leading experts on China’s turn toward capitalism.” Guthrie got a Ph.D. from Berkeley and then taught at New York University. In 2014, Apple hired him for his expertise on China. And he spent several years trying to warn the company that China was changing and Apple was vulnerable....

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His warnings were prescient. China has taken a nationalist, authoritarian turn under Mr. Xi, and American companies like Apple, Nike and the National Basketball Association are facing a dilemma. While doing business in China often remains lucrative, it also increasingly requires uncomfortable compromises.

That last link goes to a story the Times published last month about Apple’s decision to effectively hand over data on all of its customers in China to the CCP.

Tim Cook, Apple’s chief executive, has said the data is safe. But at the data center in Guiyang, which Apple hoped would be completed by next month, and another in the Inner Mongolia region, Apple has largely ceded control to the Chinese government.

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 Those compromises had to be made because China has a lot of leverage. Nearly all of Apple’s products are manufactured and assembled there. It’s also Apple’s 2nd biggest market after the US. Refusing to play ball with China could decimate the company. And according to Doug Guthrie the company still has no plan B. It is almost entirely dependent on China.

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China is in the hands of a despot and he may eventually seize all the assets of American companies who are in China.  It is what communists do.  Trump was more right about China than Democrats are willing to concede.