BEIJING, Oct 23 (Reuters) - Apple ( AAPL ) CEO Tim Cook

met on Wednesday with China's Minister for Industry and

Information Technology Jin Zhuanglong during a visit to Beijing

this week, the ministry said in a statement.

During the meeting, Jin told Cook that he hoped Apple ( AAPL ) would

continue to deepen its presence in China, increase investment in

innovation, grow with Chinese companies and share the dividends

of high-quality development, the statement showed.

The trip is Cook's second to China this year. His posts on

the X-like Weibo social media platform showed he visited an

organic farm and toured ancient neighbourhoods with artists

including local photographer Chen Man.

China is the world's biggest smartphone market where, in

recent quarters, the iPhone maker has been losing market share

to domestic rivals.

Apple ( AAPL ) began China sales of its latest smartphones on Sept. 20,

the same day local champion Huawei launched a rival

handset. The new iPhones got off to a strong start with sales

rising 20% in the first three weeks of launch compared with the

year-earlier model, showed data from researcher Counterpoint.

However, overall iPhone sales in China fell 2% on year

during the three-week period due to declining sales of older

models and increased competition with Huawei's Mate and Pura

series, Counterpoint said.