Apple's Tim Cook tours China, meets with Vice Premier ahead of March 25 event

Apple CEO Tim Cook visited Beijing this week, touring businesses and local landmarks, as well as meeting with China's Vice Premier Sun Chunlan.

The pair discussed the country's education achievements and promised further cooperation along those lines, according to the state-run Xinhua news agency. Apple has been eager to push iPads and its Swift programming language into as many schools as possible.

The executive also visited the Forbidden City, promoting apps that "help people around the world learn about Chinese culture," as he wrote in a Weibo post. Similar stops involved visiting Hongen Education, which is integrating augmented reality into its products, and talking to members of an education startup called iHuman.

Cook first arrived in the country on March 21. That night he attended a Today at Apple music event at the company's Wangfujing store.

His return home will likely happen Sunday if not Saturday, given that he's likely to appear at a press event on March 25. The company is widely expected to showcase its upcoming video service, as well as paid Apple News subscriptions.