According to media reports, US entrepreneur Elon Musk spoke out against economic decoupling of the USA from China during a visit to the Tesla plant in Shanghai. Musk’s visit is a great image boost for Beijing.
The fact that Elon Musk is visiting China for the first time in around three years would under normal circumstances be little more than a side note in global economic news.
But these are not normal times, at least not between China and the US. Relations between the two superpowers are worse than they have been in decades – and the mutual alienation has long since affected the economy.
A visit becomes a political statement
Every visit to China by a high-ranking business representative from the USA is therefore also a political statement – a kind of commitment to economic exchange. The spokeswoman for the Chinese leadership, Mao Ning, made correspondingly benevolent statements shortly before Musk’s landing in the People’s Republic.
“China always welcomes business representatives from different countries – so that they can better understand China and promote mutually beneficial cooperation,” and the same applies to Elon Musk, Mao stressed in Beijing.
China is emphatically committed to a “great degree of openness to the outside world.” The Chinese leadership is also committed to creating a “market-oriented, constitutional and international business environment.”
Opening or foreclosure?
Foreign managers on site increasingly see things differently. From their point of view, China has been sealing itself off more and more economically for years – at least in many areas.
When it comes to the rule of law and legal certainty for foreign companies, China’s communist leadership is also making regression rather than progress, according to international business associations and experts.
China is Tesla’s second most important sales market
But the People’s Republic is extremely important for Elon Musk’s electric car company Tesla: The factory in Shanghai is the company’s largest in the world. After the USA, China is also the most important sales market for Tesla.
Reuters reports that Musk may also meet Premier Li Qiang during his visit to China.
Criticism by Human Rights Watch
The China expert at the human rights organization Human Rights Watch, Wang Yaqiu, criticized Elon Musk’s trip to the People’s Republic: The self-proclaimed “free speech absolutist” is meeting the leadership of one of the most censored countries in the world in China, she wrote on Twitter.
This tweet cannot be seen in China: Elon Musk’s social media service is blocked by the Chinese government.