This event refers to the opening of a new, large Apple Megastore in Beijing’s Sanlitun district on July 17, 2020, which occurred just one day after then-U.S. Attorney General William Barr delivered a powerful speech criticizing Apple and other American tech giants for being “all too willing to collaborate” with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
The juxtaposition of the two events highlighted the conflict between American corporate economic interests and U.S. geopolitical concerns over China.
🏛️ William Barr’s Criticism
On July 16, 2020, William Barr gave a speech accusing American companies, including Apple, of sacrificing democratic values and user security to maintain access to China’s massive market and critical manufacturing base.
The core points of his criticism included:
- “Double Standard”: Barr argued that Apple demonstrated a double standard by strongly resisting U.S. government demands for access to encrypted data (citing privacy concerns) while simultaneously complying with Chinese government demands for censorship and data storage.
- Censorship: He specifically cited Apple’s removal of apps from its Chinese App Store, such as VPNs (which allow users to bypass the Great Firewall) and the news app Quartz (following complaints about its coverage of the Hong Kong democracy protests).
- Data Vulnerability: Barr questioned the security of iPhones sold in China and criticized Apple’s 2017 decision to comply with Chinese law by storing Chinese customer iCloud data on servers located in mainland China, raising fears of easier government access.
🇨🇳 Apple’s Beijing Store Opening
The next day, Apple opened its massive new flagship retail location in Beijing’s Sanlitun shopping district.
- Location and Scale: The new store was a megastore, significantly larger than the original 2008 flagship it replaced in the same location. Its grand opening signaled Apple’s deep and unapologetic commitment to the Chinese consumer market, which is critical to the company’s global revenue.
- The Message: The timing was widely seen as a stark illustration of the economic reality driving Apple’s China strategy. For Apple, China is not just a major sales market (the fifth-largest smartphone vendor at the time) but the indispensable linchpin of its global supply chain and manufacturing operations.
⚖️ The Underlying Conflict
The event symbolized the uncomfortable geopolitical conflict faced by major U.S. multinational corporations:
- Economic Imperative: Apple operates under the reality that to sell to Chinese consumers and manufacture products in the country, it must comply with Chinese law, which includes regulations around data localization and content censorship. Exiting the market is not considered a viable financial option.
- Geopolitical Pressure: The U.S. government views the compliance of these companies as undermining American values, giving the CCP greater control over information, and potentially compromising global user data.
The simultaneous events showcased the difficulty of reconciling American business freedom with increasing geopolitical pressure to adopt a foreign policy stance.
