Wang Huning, a member of China's powerful Politburo Standing Committee, defended the country's censorship of the web at a state-backed World Internet Conference in Wuzhen which was attended by Apple Inc. CEO Tim Cook and Google Inc. CEO Sundar Pichai, The New York Times reported.
Huning said that the global community views favorably China's concept of cyber-sovereignty, which argues that a country should be free to control the internet within its borders, even if it means censorship.
Speaking at the conference, Cook highlighted Apple's contribution to China, saying that nearly 1.8 million developers using its platform in China have earned a total of 112 billion yuan, representing roughly a quarter of total global App Store earnings, CNBC reported.
Meanwhile, Pichai made a case for Google's return to China, saying that "a lot of work Google does is to help Chinese companies" and that many Chinese businesses "take advantage of Google" to sell their products outside of China, South China Morning Post reported.
Apple is facing criticism for removing hundreds of apps, including messaging apps and virtual private network services, from its local app store, bowing to pressure from China.
Recently, a Google executive reportedly confirmed that the company is building an artificial intelligence team in China.
As of Dec. 1, US$1 was equivalent to 6.62 Chinese yuan.
