Apple made secret 5-year $275B deal with Chinese government

> "Sometime in 2014 or early 2015, China's State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping told members of the Apple Maps team to make the Diaoyu Islands, the objects of a long-running territorial dispute between China and Japan, appear large even when users zoomed out from them. Chinese regulators also threatened to withhold approval of the first Apple Watch, scheduled for release in 2015, if Apple didn't comply with the unusual request, according to internal documents."

> "Some members of the team back at Apple's headquarters in Cupertino, Calif., initially balked at the demand. But the Maps app had become a priority for Apple, so eventually the company complied. The Diaoyu Islands, when viewed in Apple Maps in mainland China, continue to appear on a larger scale than surrounding territories."

Total subservience to Chinese government.

(Quote from original source article https://www.theinformation.com/articles/facing-hostile-chine...)

This may have the benefit of moving unrepatriated dollars from Apple's foreign subsidiaries to China, so the can be put to work without repatriation taxes.

It would be a prudent move. Apple's global financial engineering is nothing if not well thought through.

Gotta pay to play in many countries, basically a bribe. China is no exception it appears.

Source of story here behind a hard paywall

https://www.theinformation.com/articles/facing-hostile-chine...