Illustration: Luo Xuan/GT

Apple CEO Tim Cook on Friday defended the company's decision to remove HKmap.live, an app that could be used to help rioters, saying that it could be "used maliciously to target individual officers for violence." Google on the same day removed a role-playing game related to the protests from its Play Store, as it violated the Store's policies and profited from the ongoing conflict. 

These moves conform to the interests of every party, and Apple and Google's share prices rallied afterward. Both are multinational companies with market values that occasionally surpass $1 trillion. Their moves have great influence on their investors worldwide. As fundamental market principles indicate, publicly traded companies are expected to obtain more mature modern enterprise systems; their executives are expected to have professional ethics. Through these expectations, public companies earn the trust of their shareholders and regulators.

Being the two largest economic entities, China and the US inevitably engage in conflict in certain areas, such as trade and investment. Such clashes may protract in the long-term. At the same time, China and the US have their own domestic political considerations. The best development path that could benefit both sides is seeking common ground while respecting each other's differences. For this reason, regardless of whether multinational corporations are from the US or China, they should avoid making money through ongoing conflicts and sensitive political topics while abiding by the laws and regulations of both countries. In other words, business is business; it should not go beyond established boundaries. Reputable multinational companies such as Apple do not intend to get involved in controversial events or take sides between conflicting political views. 

On the contrary, such companies are wary of keeping their edge as international technological giants amid rapidly changing industry trends. Apple products which were once labeled as fashionable, high-end and innovative have lost their charm. If Apple wants to attract the attention of investors around the world, the company needs to seize upon technological trends and capitalize on technologies to make new products.

This kind of innovation-transfer capability is hard to obtain; it is the core competitiveness of high-tech companies. It is the reason that Chinese firms should keep a close eye on multinational tech companies like Apple and Google. Chinese and US companies have equal footing when it comes to the new generation of material innovation. If Apple only focuses on sharpening its current technologies  - making the iPhone thinner and more durable, for example - it will be outshone by burgeoning Asian smartphone companies. 

Apple and Google's moves to pull their Hong Kong-related apps were not forced decisions, but calculated business decisions. A total of 97 percent of US companies interviewed said that they make profits in the Chinese market. Some 74 percent of members of the US Chamber of Commerce plan to expand their investments in China. 

China, as always, welcomes foreign investors including US firms. What these companies care about the most is maintaining their competitive advantages and taking up shares in the Chinese market. If the political and economic competition between China and the US were to become more rational, it would be beneficial to US enterprises, as well as Chinese ones.

The author is chief advisor of China Securities JT Fund and a member of the Academic Committee of the Pangoal Institution. bizopinion@globaltimes.com.cn