I’m not talking about getting the companies that dump Made in China in every dollar store out of China. Or for that matter every Bed, Bath, and Beyond. 

But Apple is probably the most premium product manufacturer in the country. Apple’s tech is vastly overpriced and comes with markups of between 100% to 200%. Never mind those $1,000 stands. If any company can afford to relocate from China, it ought to be Apple.

Instead, Apple keeps talking about it. And then talking about it some more.

There was talk under Trump when an economic war was underway. There’s more talk now that China is locking down its own tech industry.

Apple has told some of its contract manufacturers that it wants to boost production outside China, citing Beijing’s strict anti-Covid policy among other reasons, people involved in the discussions said.

Obviously, moral issues wouldn’t be a factor.

Apple has been happy with strict COVID policies at home, but these are interfering with its manufacturing base and the connections between its people and the manufacturing on the ground.

China’s travel restrictions have meant that Apple has curtailed sending executives and engineers into the country over the past two years, making it hard to check production sites in person

It’s virtually unthinkable for a company to have such fragile oversight over its manufacturing, but that’s the state of play in China,

But even while Apple is exploring moving out of China, it’s looking to take China with it.

Taiwan-based assemblers Foxconn Technology Group and Wistron Corp. have already set up factories in India to produce iPhones mainly for that country’s domestic market, where Apple sales are growing rapidly. In April, Apple said it has begun producing the latest generation of iPhones, the iPhone 13 series, in India.

Apple is now speaking to some existing suppliers about expanding in India, including potentially production for export, the people said.

One problem with India is the difficulty China-based assemblers have setting up shop there because of chilly relations between New Delhi and Beijing, analysts and suppliers said. The two countries’ militaries fought a deadly clash along their disputed border in 2020, and recently have had a diplomatic dispute over Indian regulators’ treatment of Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi Corp.

Apple might want to leave China, but only as part of China’s expansion abroad. 

Basically, Apple is a Chinese company pretending to be an American company.