Musk meets Chinese FM in Beijing

BEIJING: Elon Musk met Foreign Minister Qin Gang in Beijing on Tuesday, the ministry said, as the Tesla CEO embarks on his first trip to China in more than three years. China is the world´s biggest electric vehicle market and Tesla announced in April it would build a second massive factory in Shanghai. Qin told Musk China was “committed to creating a better market-oriented, rule-of-law-based and internationalised business environment” for foreign enterprises, his ministry said on its website.

Musk said in response “Tesla opposes ´decoupling and breaking chains´, and is willing to continue to expand its business in China”, according to the ministry´s readout. Musk´s ties to China have raised eyebrows in Washington, with US President Joe Biden saying in November the executive´s links to foreign countries were “worthy” of scrutiny. The battery factory announced in April will be Tesla´s second plant in Shanghai after Gigafactory, which broke ground in 2019.