HONG KONG: Apple CEO Tim Cook said at a meeting with the Chinese government in Beijing that the U.S. company will increase investment in China and thereby contribute to supply chain development, state news agency Xinhua reported on Thursday. Cook met Minister for Industry and Information Technology Jin Zhuanglong on Wednesday, the ministry previously said.

Apple did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.

This is Cook's second trip this year to the world's biggest smartphone market where, in recent quarters, the iPhone maker has been losing market share to domestic rivals.

"Apple is keen to seize the opportunities presented by China's opening up and will continue to increase its investment in the country, thus contributing to the high-quality development of the industrial and supply chains," Cook was quoted as saying by Xinhua.

Topics discussed at the meeting included Apple's development in China, online data security management and cloud services, Xinhua reported.

Jin told Cook that he hoped Apple would deepen its presence in China, increase investment in innovation, grow with Chinese companies and share the dividends of high-quality development, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said in a statement on Wednesday.

 

(Reporting by Farah Master and the Beijing newsroom; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Christopher Cushing)