>Apple has strong data privacy and security protections in place and no backdoors will be created into any of our systems.
iMessage is end-to-end encrypted and has never been blocked in China, while services like WhatsApp are [2]. During the FBI brouhaha, the national security establishment water holders started writing op-eds on blogs like Lawfare suggesting that Apple was being hypocritical in opposing the FBI, alleging that they had already given the jewels away to China [3]. The DoJ basically parroted this in their filings to the court, accusing Apple of this outright (whether or not the op-eds were co-ordinated with the DoJ is unclear). Fortunately, this led to Apple responding to these accusations in their own filings to the court [4], including this declaration from Craig Federighi under threat of perjury [5]:
>5. Apple uses the same security protocols everywhere in the world.
>6. Apple has never made user data, whether stored on the iPhone or in iCloud, more technologically accessible to any country's government. We believe any such access is too dangerous to allow. Apple has also not provided any government with its proprietary iOS source code. While governmental agencies in various countries, including the United States, perform regulatory reviews of new iPhone releases, all that Apple provides in those circumstances is an unmodified iPhone device.
>7. It is my understanding that Apple has never worked with any government agency from any country to create a "backdoor" in any of our products and services.
>I declare under penalty of perjury under the laws of the United States of America that the foregoing is true and correct.
Assuming Craig Federighi didn't perjure himself, why has China seemingly made an exception for Apple when it comes to iMessage (or iOS or iCloud)? The answer is that Apple is the only tech company that actually has leverage with the CPC in (indirectly) employing millions of workers in China. People have criticized Apple for taking down the NYT's app or VPN apps in the App Store in China and for not resisting it, but Apple is rightly picking their battles to protect the crown jewels.
[1] https://9to5mac.com/2018/01/10/apple-will-begin-storing-chin...
[2] https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/25/business/china-whatsapp-b...
[3] https://www.lawfareblog.com/deposing-tim-cook
[4] https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/2762131/C-D-Cal-1...
[5] https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/2762118-Federighi-De...