Apple CEO Tim Cook meets with Chinese vice premier in Beijing

Tim Cook

Apple CEO Tim Cook. Pic: AP.

BEIJING (AP) — Apple CEO Tim Cook has met with a top Chinese official in Beijing while touring a country that has become the tech giant’s biggest driver of sales growth.

The official Xinhua News Agency reported late Tuesday that Cook met with Vice Premier Liu Yandong in the Zhongnanhai leadership compound. They reportedly discussed how to promote greater scientific and educational cooperation between China and the U.S.

Xinhua said Cook also visited an elementary school in Beijing earlier Tuesday to talk about innovation. A day earlier, Cook announced cooperation between Apple and the environmental group the World Wildlife Fund to responsibly manage Chinese forests and minimize the company’s environmental impact.

China accounts for 30 percent of total Apple revenue, with Chinese sales growing by 71 percent in the last quarter.

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