Elon Musk wants to go to China to meet with the Chinese prime minister. The news was announced this Friday by the Reuters agency, which said that the visit from the owner of Tesla and Twitter could take place as soon as next month.
The idea must pass arrange a meeting with the new prime minister, Li Qiang, in office since March of this year. The exact date will depend on the ruler’s availability, but sources in charge of planning the trip assure that it will be close.
If confirmed, it would be the tycoon’s first trip to China since the start of the pandemic. The topics to be discussed in a possible meeting between Musk and Li are not, for now, known, but the moment of the visit indicates that issues related to Tesla’s presence in the country may be on the table.
After the United States, China is the company’s second-biggest market for electric cars, and it is in Shanghai where its largest production plant is located.. Musk and Li Qiang also met in 2019, on the occasion of the inauguration of this factory; at that time, the now head of the government of Beijing was secretary of the Communist Party, precisely in Shanghai.
The truth is that the current context is less positive for the business of the South African-born tycoon. In addition to the competition Tesla has faced in the Chinese market from in-house manufacturer BYD (financed by American Warren Buffett), the promised production ramp-up at the Shanghai factory has been repeatedly delayed, in part due to the obstacles posed by the pandemic. . On the other hand, Tesla’s electric cars have been banned from Chinese political and military buildings, due to Beijing’s concerns about video surveillance systems installed in the company’s cars.
On the Chinese side, Musk’s reception would be matched by the regime’s recent efforts to attract investment, in an attempt to leverage the country’s economy, which is slow to recover from the effects of Covid-19. Just this week, Li Qiang spoke at business events attended by the likes of Apple CEO Tim Cook and Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla. Also in this regard, last week saw the first public appearance of Chinese businessman Jack Ma in some two years, in an apparent sign of reconciliation between the owner of the Chinese company Alibaba and the Xi Jinping regime.
Businessman Jack Ma reappears in public in China two years later, in an apparent sign of rapprochement with Beijing
China is also one of Twitter’s largest markets., which Musk bought last year for 44,000 million dollars (about 40,000 million euros). The company’s activity in China has divided, according to sources, internal opinion, some think that the social network should maximize its business opportunities in Chinese territory, while others have been cautious about the risks for Twitter in a climate of growing animosity between Beijing and China. Washington.
Source: Observadora
