Beijing, Apr 29:
On a surprise visit to Beijing, billionaire Elon Musk on Sunday met Chinese Premier Li Qiang and other officials to discuss lifting all restrictions on moving and parking of Tesla vehicles in some sensitive areas in the country over fears of breach of sensitive and strategic data, official media reported.
A recent report said that Tesla car drivers in China are reportedly facing entry bans in government-affiliated buildings as security concerns with the US increase.
An increasing number of meeting halls and exhibition centres across the country are refusing entry to Tesla vehicles, according to a report published by Nikkei Asia.
The report stated that previous restrictions for the vehicles were generally limited just to military bases, but now a growing number of highway operators, local authority agencies, and cultural centres are reportedly enforcing them.
Musk arrived in Beijing on Sunday at the invitation of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade Automobile company as Tesla has been in negotiation with the Chinese authorities about the lifting of all restrictions, the state-run China Daily reported.
The restrictions included moving and parking in some sensitive areas in the country, as Tesla’s electric vehicles, or EVs, passed an authoritative national data inspection in China, the daily quoted official sources as saying.
Musk visited to discuss topics including removing restrictions on Tesla EVs in some sensitive areas, such as government agencies, as well as launching the vehicles’ full self-driving functions in the country, it said.
Musk made the visit mainly because of the data issue and not there for the ongoing Auto China show in Beijing, as has been reported, it said.
In his meeting with Musk, Li said that China’s huge market will always be open to foreign-funded enterprises.
China will work hard on expanding market access and improving services to provide foreign-funded enterprises with a better business environment and stronger support so that companies from all countries can invest in China with peace of mind, he said.
Noting Tesla’s development in China can be called a successful example of China-US economic cooperation, Li said facts have proven that equal cooperation and mutual benefit are in the best interests of the two countries.
It is hoped that the US and China will meet more halfway and promote the stable development of bilateral ties under the strategic guidance of the two heads of state, the Chinese premier said.
Musk said Tesla’s Shanghai Gigafactory is Tesla’s best-performing factory and expressed his willingness to deepen cooperation with China to achieve more win-win results, official media reported.
Musk is expected to meet senior Chinese officials at the State Council and “old friends” in Beijing, Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post reported.
His Tesla has become a popular EV in China after he set up a USD seven billion factory in Shanghai which went into production in 2020.
Musk, who recently skipped a scheduled visit to India to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi to firm up plans to open a Tesla factory in the country, is visiting Beijing when his Tesla market in China is threatened by the local EVs increasing sales.
