Apple in China: The Capture of the World's Greatest Company

This was a look at how Apple grew from manufacturing primarily in America to almost exclusively in China. It was a fascinating look from when Apple had to sell their own factories just to avoid bankruptcy to today.

It was kind of eerie to see all the decisions that slowly but surely tied them to China. The book goes through in detail all the different things Apple did to take advantage of the cheap labor in China as well as all the hoops they had to jump through to appease the dictatorship. It was informative and enlightening both about the decisions Apple made, and how China flexes its muscles to capture technical know-how as well as the manufacturing capabilities.

Cook's silence, his ultimate consent, was highly indicative of just how beholden America's most valuable company had become to an authoritarian state. The point however, isn't to condemn Cook or Apple. It's to convey the predicament they're in. At the turn of the millennium, Washington made a bet on China. A bet that free trade would liberalize the country and perhaps catalyze the creation of the world's biggest democracy. Instead, trade enriched China and empowered its rulers. Cook shouldn't be blamed by politicians for enmeshing Apple's operations in China two decades ago, but he has erred by doubling down over the past decade, despite mounting evidence that Xi has been ramping up repression at home and taking a more combative stance in international affairs.