Industry

Apple CEO: Cooperation to eliminate inequality, deeply encouraged by China’s progress

Mar 25, 2018, 10:36am2018/05/06 22:45:18 Sina Tech

The annual session of the China Development Forum (CDF) 2018 will be hosted on March 24-26, 2018, with “China in the New Era” as its theme. Apple CEO Tim Cook attended and spoke at the sub-forum named “Addressing the Challenge of Global Inequality”.

Cook said that China has made large contributions to the wave of globalization that has created many opportunities and technological advances driving economic growth. But, he argues, that globalization has also widened the gap between the rich and the poor, and that Apple needs to solve the problem. “Inclusiveness must be at the heart of the global economy, and that is Apple’s core goal. Addressing inequality is not only an economic necessity, but also a moral imperative.”

Cook said that inequality is present in educational opportunities, job opportunities, salaries, and so on. Apple has done a lot of work in these areas, such as education, as a good way to improve inequality. Apple has developed courses and programming curricula for students and people of all ages, so as to develop a new generation of programmers.

Apple has also proposed a supplier education program. With 2.5 million suppliers returning to the classroom, Apple has provided tools for nearly two million Chinese developers. In the face of climate change, Apple is using 100 percent renewable energy sources in China and urging suppliers to follow this example. Apple also will not allow gender pay differences within the company.

Cook argues that the problem of inequality needs to be worked out by the government and the business community together. He said that he was deeply encouraged by China’s progress in this regard.

This article originally appeared in Sina Tech and was translated by Pandaily.

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