Apple chief executive appointed to Tsinghua post

Tim Cook, Apple’s chief executive, has been appointed as chairman of the advisory board at Tsinghua University’s School of Economics and Management.

Tsinghua, the top-ranked university in Asia, is known for its close ties to China’s business and political elite.

“In the next three years, I will work with all of the board members to promote the development of Tsinghua University School of Economics and Management and to lead the effort to build it into a world-class school,” Mr Cook said.

He is hardly the first Western business titan to sit on the advisory board, which has included Elon Musk of Tesla and Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook. Mr Cook replaces Jim Breyer, chief executive of Breyer Capital, who was board chairman from 2016 to 2019. 

Mr Cook takes on the Tsinghua post at a time of increased tension between China and US technology companies, which must contend with a trade war, internet censorship and the rise of Chinese rivals. In China, domestic company Huawei overtook Apple’s market share several months ago.  

In Hong Kong, Apple has come under fire for its removal of the HKmap.live app, which tracked protest activity in real time. Beijing claimed that the app helped protesters target the police. However, demonstrators said that the removal was akin to censorship. 

joyce.lau@timeshighereducation.com