China calls for ‘stable’ ties with US in meeting with Elon Musk

China called for “stable and constructive” ties with the US in a meeting with Elon Musk, highlighting the complicated relationship between Beijing and the billionaire boss of Tesla, Twitter and SpaceX.

In a statement, the Chinese foreign ministry quoted Musk, who arrived in Beijing on Tuesday, as comparing US-China interests to twins and saying Tesla opposed the “separation” of the world’s two largest economies. Did.

Musk, one of the world’s richest men and a powerful figure in the auto sector, social media and the space industry, has a complicated relationship with China, Tesla’s biggest non-US market and a supplier for its electric cars. An important part of the series. ,

Tuesday’s comments by Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang were made against a backdrop of tensions that have brought US-China relations to their lowest level in decades. He echoed then-premier Li Keqiang’s suggestion in 2019 that Musk could help “stabilize” relations with Washington.

Qin told Musk, “A healthy, stable and constructive China-US relationship is beneficial not only to the two countries but also to the world.”

Chinese security officials have raised concerns over ties between SpaceX, Musk’s commercial rocket and satellite business, and the US military. Twitter, Musk’s social media platform, is banned in China.

Musk’s visit to China, his first since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, also comes amid growing concerns among foreign businesses in the country following a series of raids on corporate consultancies.

Musk is expected to visit Tesla’s Shanghai factory this week. In previous visits to China, he met President Xi Jinping’s new premier, Li Qiang, when he was party secretary for Shanghai.

Tesla’s China office declined to comment.

Unlike most American business leaders, Musk has a history of striking a tone sympathetic to Beijing on sensitive issues in its relations with Washington, including Taiwan, which Beijing views as part of its territory and wants to be indefinitely unified by Taipei. Threatened to take by force on protest. ,

Asked earlier in May about geopolitical tensions involving China and the US over Taiwan, Musk said there was “a certain imperative to the situation”, adding that “China’s official policy is that Taiwan should be integrated”. “.

Chinese defense experts have expressed concern about how Musk’s satellites could be used to conduct surveillance or support Taiwan in case of conflict. Such fears deepened after SpaceX last year sent a shipment of Starlink satellite kits to fortify Ukraine’s internet network against the invading Russian military.

Earlier this week, Musk said on Twitter that the Chinese space program was “far more advanced” than most people realized. The tweet was in response to a state news report that China would land people on the Moon by the end of the decade. China sent its first civilian into orbit on Tuesday.

Musk’s arrival in China coincides with a visit by JPMorgan Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon, who is gathering American and Chinese corporate leaders for a summit in Shanghai this week. It follows a series of visits in recent weeks by rival auto industry leaders including Volkswagen’s Oliver Blume and General Motor’s Mary Barra.

Tesla’s China business has been hugely successful, accounting for less than a third of its annual sales in the country of 1.4 billion people. However, Tesla’s decision to slash prices in China late last year was the opening salvo in a price war that has intensified competition, particularly with local rival BYD, a Shenzhen-based conglomerate owned by Warren Buffett. Backed by Berkshire Hathaway.

Tesla’s sales share in China’s “new energy vehicle” market — which includes plug-in hybrids and battery cars — is set to increase from 7.9 percent initially to 9.6 percent in 2022, according to data from Shanghai-based consultancy Automobility. However, BYD’s market share has increased from 31.7 per cent to 38.1 per cent in the same period.

Tesla’s first factory in Shanghai, which opened in 2019, has been credited with helping to drive China’s rapid growth in electric vehicle sales and bolster a deep local supply chain. The company last month announced plans to boost investment in Shanghai with a new factory to manufacture its Megapack energy storage systems.

In response to Beijing’s concerns about cross-border data security and sensitive consumer and geographic location data collected by Tesla vehicles, Musk’s company has pledged to store information collected in China in local data centers. This was seen by experts as a setback for global data-gathering efforts vital to its research and development.

Additional reporting by Ryan McMorrow in Beijing