Apple's Tim Cook flying to meet Chinese officials later in May - report

Apple CEO Tim Cook is reportedly flying to Beijing later this month to meet with senior Chinese government officials — including, unusually, officials in charge of propaganda.

The tour was revealed by a source familiar with the plan, Reuters said on Friday. The person didn't go into further detail on the matter.

Cook may have a number of issues to deal with however, one of the foremost being the April closure of the iTunes Movies and the iBooks Stores in China by the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television. Reuters noted that the Chinese government introduced stricter rules for online publishing in March, especially for foreign businesses.

Censorship policies have meanwhile affected a number of online services owned by foreign firms.

Another possible area of discussion is encryption. Apple's refusal to bypass the passcode retry limit on the iPhone of San Bernardino shooter Syed Rizwan Farook reportedly "raised skepticism" among Chinese officials, although the company has twice refused to hand over source code to China in as many years.

In recent weeks Apple lost a trademark dispute over the "iPhone" name, something it intends to take to the Supreme People's Court. Cook might theoretically try to influence the government's stance on trademarks and copyright and make it more copacetic to Apple business interests.