Tim Cook is currently visiting China, his first trip there as Apple CEO.
According to Bloomberg, Cook on Wednesday visited a Foxconn plant in Zhengzhou, where 120,000 workers assemble iPhones and iPads, and checked out the production line.
The Foxconn visit comes as Apple is under immense scrutiny for labor practices and working conditions at its supplier factories. A recent series in the New York Times, for example, questioned whether Apple products are manufactured under safe and humane conditions. Apple has since asked the Fair Labor Association (FLA) to conduct audits of its final assembly suppliers, including Foxconn.
Bloomberg said Cook also met with several officials, including the mayor of Beijing and vice premier Li Keqiang, who will likely become China's next premier. Li told Cook that multinational companies need to put more effort into caring for their workers.
Cook responded by saying that Apple "will strengthen comprehensive cooperation with the Chinese side and conduct business in a law-abiding and honest matter," Bloomberg said, according to a report from Xinhua, China's state-run news agency.
Apple confirmed the meeting to the AFP.
"Tim had great meetings with Vice Premier Li and other top officials in Beijing," the company said in a statement. "China is very important to us and we look forward to greater investment and growth here."
China is Apple's fastest-growing market and its largest market outside of the U.S. During an appearance at a recent Goldman Sachs conference, Cook said the company has "had incredible success with the iPhone" in the region. In the last few years, Apple earnings there have gone from nothing to $13 billion, "so we've really been focused on trying to understand that market," he said.
During that same appearance, meanwhile, Cook insisted that Apple cares "about every worker."
Working conditions are not the only China-related issue with which Apple is contending. Cupertino is also battling Chinese computer monitor maker Proview over the iPad name. In December, a Chinese court ruled in favor of Proview, which has been using the iPad brand since at least 2001. Apple said it bought the rights to the brand in 2009, though Proview claims that only applied to Taiwan, not mainland China. Recently Apple said that Proview is misleading consumers and court officials by asserting ownership of the brand.