Tim Cook went there to get humiliated. Given what's at stake for his company, I doubt he had alternatives. I guess that's what a CEO would do. However by giving that speech he accomplished nothing but to confirm that he holds no ground against his local competitors whatsoever, and the article correctly points this out. China keeps laughing in the face of the West. The weakness and passiveness of western "democracies" is astounding, but no wonder that when you spend all your time to play internal politics there's little time left to envision an international strategy.

I wonder what it'll take for Western governments to get their stuff together and elaborate a response.