APPLE staff met with Chinese officials in recent months to discuss concerns over new rules that will restrict the US tech giant from offering many foreign apps currently available on its app store in the country, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday (Sep 29).

The officials told Apple that it must strictly implement the rules which ban unregistered foreign apps, the report stated, citing people familiar with the matter.

Apple did not immediately reply to Reuters’ request for comment.

Beijing has been expanding oversight of smartphone and mobile app usage over the past several years, and now requires mobile app stores and mobile apps to submit business details to the government.

China’s cyberspace regulator on Wednesday released the names of the first batch of mobile app stores that have completed filing business details, signalling it has begun enforcing the new rules, but Apple’s App Store was missing from the list.

Apple has not disclosed how its app store in China will comply with Beijing’s new rules. Experts said Apple’s compliance could lead to tens of thousands of apps being removed from its app store in China.

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Apple employees expressed concern over how the rules would be implemented and affect its users, WSJ said. REUTERS