...Beijing News [reports]...that Apple chief executive Tim Cook informed [Chinese internet czar] Lu [Wei]...that Apple would let China’s State Internet Information Office conduct “security checks” on all products that it sells on the mainland. China has been concerned that Apple devices like the iPhone enable the company—or worse, US intelligence agencies—to spy on Chinese citizens...“There were rumors that Apple built back doors in its devices, and let third parties have data and access those devices, but that was never true and that we would never do that in the future either,” [Apple chief executive Tim] Cook reportedly said...Inside knowledge would make it much easier for the Chinese government to find bugs and vulnerabilities in Apple’s products...[Percy Alpha from anti-censorship group GreatFire.org] said, and “the government can then exploit such vulnerabilities to hack iPhone or MacBooks.”...Most alarmingly, Alpha added, an agreement would mean that “Apple users world-wide are much more vulnerable to spying from the Chinese government.”...