Tech chiefs attend make first visit to event which has previously been used to push Beijing’s arguments in favour of heavy censorship
Tim Cook, the chief executive of Apple, and Sundar Pichai, Google’s chief executive, appeared at a state-run internet conference in eastern China on Sunday.
The World Internet Conference in Wuzhen, near Shanghai, is an annual gathering of mainly Chinese internet officials and internet firm executives as well as bureaucrats from developing countries.
The previous three conferences in 2014,2015 and 2016 were not attended by heavyweight US tech executives as Cook or Pichai.
The Chinese government uses the event to pursue its argument that its censorship and regulation of the internet does not harm the development of technology and business prosperity.
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Two years ago at the same event in the eastern city President Xi Jinping called on countries to respect “cyber sovereignty” and argued that all countries have the rights to regulate the internet.
Beijing has repeatedly warned that foreign internet companies must comply with its laws and regulations before it grants market access and firmly opposes anything that it regards as being against its national interest.
Cook is a frequent visitor to China and last visited the country five weeks ago.
The Apple chief executive’s presence indicates the importance of China market for the iPhone maker, even though Apple’s market share in China’s smartphone market is shrinking.
