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Apple's Tim Cook visits China for the second time in a year

Apple's Tim Cook visits China for the second time in a year

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Cook plans to meet with government officials; Apple would not confirm other details of his visit.

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On Tuesday, Tim Cook met with Industry and Information Technology Minister Miao Wei as part of his second visit to China as Apple's CEO. According to a statement on the minister's website, Cook and Wei met to discuss "the development of China’s information technology industry, global mobile communications, and Apple’s business in China."

Cook last visited China in March 2012, meeting with officials and touring Foxconn's Apple factories following criticism of labor practices there. Since that visit, Foxconn has faced scandal again. In August, the Fair Labor Association announced that Foxconn was making good progress in improving working conditions. But in September, Chinese students were reportedly pulled out of school to work on the iPhone 5 as part of a forced "internship" program. It's unconfirmed whether he'll visit Foxconn again, but Cook's visit may be timed to coincide with another update to the FLA's report.

Update: Matt Brian and John Paczkowski both wonder whether Tim Cook is in China in part to try to strike a deal with China Mobile, the nation's largest cellular provider with 120 million current subscribers.