According to Japanese financial publication Nikkei, Apple warned its suppliers on Friday that China has stepped up enforcement of a long-standing import rule “that parts and components made in Taiwan must be marked as made in either Taiwan, China or in Chinese Taipei.” The Register asked Apple for comment on this report, and iGiant used its free speech to say nothing. If Apple did respond, it would likely say something like, “We follow the law in the countries where we do business” or “we were just following orders.” Taiwan was recognized as a sovereign country by the United Nations from 1949 to 1971, when the United Nations General Assembly voted to expel the Republic of China (Taiwan) and accept the PRC (Mainland China). Since then, the US has maintained a “one-China policy” that recognizes the PRC as China’s sole legitimate government without accepting Chinese claims of sovereignty over Taiwan, which is officially a territory. However, the US supplies Taiwan with arms and considers it an important trading partner – more so than ever given the economic and strategic importance of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), which produces tons of chips for America and the rest of the world. While China and the US have allowed Taiwan’s status to remain unclear to avoid open war, the uneasy peace is often tested, as was the case this week when Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic Speaker of the House of Representatives, visited Taiwan after warning away from the Chinese government.
The US warns that losing access to Taiwanese chips could break the economy
READ MORE Pelosi’s visit angered the CCP, which responded by carrying out threatening military exercises and announcing countermeasures, including suspending military, legal and economic cooperation efforts between China and the US. CCP authorities also sanctioned Pelosi and her family. China’s decision to enforce its import labeling rules to designate Taiwan as its own province apparently stems from this application of pique. Apple has prospered by relying on Chinese companies as part of its supply chain. But its reliance on China for product sales and assembly has left the company reluctant to challenge the flagrant abuses, though it claims otherwise. In September 2020, Apple issued a document [PDF] entitled “Our commitment to human rights”. It states: “At Apple and throughout our supply chain, we prohibit harassment, discrimination, violence and retaliation of any kind — and we have zero tolerance for violations motivated by any form of bias or bigotry.” Apple has shown a little more tolerance for China’s mass detention of Muslim Uighurs. In December 2020, the Tech Transparency Project reported that Apple’s suppliers depend on forced labor. And in May 2021, a report by The Information accused seven of Apple’s suppliers of relying on forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region. When US lawmakers proposed a law to hold companies accountable for allowing suppliers to use forced labor, Apple lobbied against the bill, which was nevertheless signed into law by President Biden late last year. Apple also lobbied the Securities and Exchange Commission, unsuccessfully, to block a shareholder proposal that would have asked the company to disclose more details about its supply chain labor practices. After Apple CEO Tim Cook spoke about his company’s alleged commitment to privacy at the IAPP Global Privacy Summit 2022, Republican FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr challenged Cook in a public letter about removing the Voice app of America by Apple from its App Store in China.
Taiwan prosecutors claim Chinese biz poached IP and R&D team from Apple supplier
READ MORE Benjamin Ismail, project director for AppleCensorship.com, which is affiliated with the China-focused advocacy group Great Fire, told The Register in an email that his organization responded to Nikkei’s report on product labeling in Taiwan, expressing concern via Twitter that it may only be a matter of time before Apple starts removing apps containing the characters “台湾/台灣” (Taiwan) without specifying the “province of China” from its App Store. “We asked if Apple would soon start censoring apps with names that don’t follow Beijing’s rules or because of their content,” Ismail said. “Unfortunately, it was not a rhetorical question or a sarcastic joke. We are well aware that such censorship is something Apple is perfectly capable of doing, as it has proven time and time again over the last decade.” As an example, Ismail pointed to Apple’s censorship of the Taiwan flag emoji on iOS devices sold in Hong Kong and Macau. “During the Umbrella Movement in Hong Kong, [Apple] removed an app used by protesters for security reasons,” he said. “It gave very strict instructions to its employees about their participation in the movement and abusively and severely restricted freedom of expression.” “Unfortunately, we suspect that Apple’s ‘red line’, the moment when it says ‘stop, no more, we can no longer cooperate with the Chinese regime and enforce its censorship demands,’ is nowhere near,” said Ishmael. “Apple has shown it is willing to go to great lengths to secure the Chinese market, including violating trade sanctions with entities targeted by US sanctions (see here, here, here and here). “But we are determined to continue to expose Apple’s censorship and human rights abuses. No company, let alone a big tech company, should be allowed to prioritize profit over the human rights and freedoms of individuals.” ®
