Apple CEO Tim Cook was named the chairman of a top Chinese business school this week amidst concerns about the relationship between the United States and communist China.

According to a report by The Verge, Apple CEO Tim Cook has been selected to serve as the chairman of Tsinghua University’s economics school in Beijing, which is widely considered to be the most prestigious business school in China.

Cook’s election to the chairman position at Tsinghua University comes in the aftermath of China-related controversy at Apple. Breitbart News reported earlier this month that Apple had removed a pro-democracy map application from its App Store that was designed to help protesters in Hong Kong avoid abusive police tactics. Other applications on the App Store, such as Waze, serve a similar function in letting users notify others of the presence of police officers.

While Cook isn’t the only tech industry executive to have served on the board, his chairmanship comes at a particularly fraught moment for Apple, when any relationship with China is likely to be closely scrutinized. The company faced a wave of criticism earlier this month when it removed a crowdsourced map of Hong Kong police presence from the App Store that was used by pro-democracy protestors. Cook defended the decision in an email to employees, arguing that the app had become a dangerous tool for tracking police — an idea that the app’s developers have pushed back on.

Cook will serve a three-year team as the Chairman of Tsinghua University’s economics school. Cook isn’t the first Silicon Valley leader to take on a role at the university. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has previously served on the board of directors at Tsinghua University.

Stay tuned to Breitbart News for more updates on this story.