Yahoo Finance Elon Musk pressured to improve US-China relations during visit to Beijing
China’s foreign minister has warned Elon Musk there must be “mutual respect” in US-China relations during the Tesla billionaire’s first visit to China in more than three years.
Qin Gang told Mr Musk that the two countries should “avoid dangerous driving” and “keep the steering wheel in the right direction of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation.”
The government minister promised to “unswervingly promote high-level opening up” and create a “market-oriented, law-based, and internationalised business environment” in China.
Mr Qin, who was until recently ambassador to the US, said “China’s development is an opportunity for the world,” according to a government statement.
The comments will be seen as an attempt to enlist Mr Musk in efforts to smooth worsening diplomatic relations between the US and China.
The Chinese government statement claimed Mr Musk opposed a “decoupling” of relations between the two countries.
Twitter is banned in China and Mr Musk has not tweeted since landed in Beijing on Tuesday morning in his private jet for his first visit since the pandemic.
The 51-year-old last visited China in January 2020, shortly after Tesla’s Shanghai plant started making cars.
The billionaire is expected to visit the gigafactory in Shanghai during his China trip as the company plans to boost output in the country.
Tesla has outlined plans to expand capacity at the Shanghai gigafactory and set up a new site to produce megapacks, the company’s energy grid storage systems.
His visit comes as Tesla faces growing competition from Chinese electric car manufacturers and amid increasing tensions between China and the US.
Beijing has also threatened to block Starlink, the satellite internet service run by Mr Musk’s SpaceX, with military-sponsored researchers saying they could jam the service’s signal.
A spokesman for the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said: “China welcomes Mr Musk and other leaders from the business community to have a better understanding of China and promote mutually beneficial cooperation.
“We would like to see foreign investors operating in China, exploring the Chinese market and sharing in the dividends of the development of China.”
Mr Musk tweeted while en route to the country: “The China space program is far more advanced than most people realise.”
Mr Musk has sought a meeting with the Chinese premier Li Qiang to discuss introducing self-driving technology to China.
The company’s plant in Shanghai produced around half of the 1.4m cars Tesla made last year, despite Covid outbreaks limiting production.
In February, the state-affiliated Global Times newspaper warned Mr Musk about sharing tweets suggesting that Covid-19 originated in a Wuhan research laboratory.
