Elon Musk held talks about the new generation vehicles today with the Chinese Minister of Industry during his visit to China, where, as the head of the American electric car manufacturer Tesla said, he wants to continue growing his investments.
The billionaire, who arrived in Beijing yesterday, Tuesday, is making his first visit in more than three years to China, which is a country of strategic importance for Tesla as it is the world’s largest market for electric vehicles.
After much fanfare, Chinese social media welcomed Musk, who secured meetings with three Chinese government ministers, singling him out as a “pioneer” and “global icon”, while some would like to see him as president of the USA.
Elon Musk landed in Beijing on Tuesday and kicked off his first visit to China in three years. Elon Musk said Tesla is willing to keep expanding in China and emphasized Tesla’s stance against “decoupling and breaking the chain.”
After arriving in Beijing yesterday, Musk met with foreign, trade, and industry ministers and dined with Zheng Yukun, the chairman of leading battery supplier CATL. Tesla and CATL did not respond to Reuters’ requests for comment. Neither does the Ministry of Commerce.
“He’s a global icon,” one user commented. “Elon Musk is just great, wish China could have someone like Musk,” commented another.
Today he met Industry Minister Jin Zhuanglong. The two men “exchanged views on the development of new energy vehicles and intelligent connected vehicles,” the Chinese ministry said in a statement.
No other details have been released from the talks, and Tesla representatives have not yet responded to AFP requests for comment.
In the meeting he had with Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang yesterday, Elon Musk expressed to him the desire of his group to “continue to develop its activities in China”, according to Chinese diplomacy.
According to Chinese media, Tesla held a dinner to welcome its chief yesterday. There were 16 different dishes on the menu, including seafood, New Zealand lamb, and traditional Beijing soy noodles.
