The world’s worst dictatorship, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is once again giving the good housekeeping seal of approval to Elon Musk and his Tesla, as the billionaire simultaneously panders to the CCP in China and preaches freedom at home.
Musk has long displayed contradictory behavior, emphasizing free speech and other American principles at home while simultaneously making up to the government with the world’s worst record on free speech and other liberties, namely the CCP. It is a similar conundrum as Musk buying Twitter with the expressly stated purpose of saving free speech and then hiring a CEO who has repeatedly posted about her censorship efforts on the platform. When it comes to making money, Musk appears willing to compromise on his stated principles, and that is disturbingly clear in his dealings with the CCP.
CCP state propaganda site Global Times smugly repeated the laudatory comments of top CCP official Premier Li Qiang:
Calling Tesla’s development in China a successful example of China-US economic and trade cooperation, Li said the facts have proved that cooperation featuring equality and mutual benefits serves the fundamental interests of both countries, and meets the common expectations of the two peoples, according to the Xinhua News Agency.
Noting that foreign-funded enterprises are indispensable participants in and contributors to China’s development, Premier Li said that China’s vast market will always be open to them…Analysts said the fact that Tesla passed the data security check along with a number of Chinese EV makers showed that the Chinese government supports security compliance efforts made by foreign companies in emerging sectors[.]
Tesla was one on a new list of “76 models of intelligent connected vehicles that meet the country’s auto data security requirements,” as determined by a Chinese industrial association. Notice that the CCP outlet specifically cited foreign companies’ “security” compliance.
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Musk’s shameful attempts to curry favor from the CCP are not new. For instance, back in 2022, Musk endorsed the CCP’s illegitimate claims to the independent, democratic nation of Taiwan. Soon after, he was reportedly rewarded with a Chinese tax exemption for Tesla. All foreign companies in China must agree to host CCP cells and to uphold “socialist core values,” and Musk’s Tesla is no exception. China also enforces “civil-military fusion,” where everything in the economic and tech spheres is accessible to the Chinese military.
Indeed, despite all this, and the endless crimes of the CCP, Musk is increasing his Chinese investment. Even before the latest trip to China, Musk announced a new Chinese factory last year. He later praised Chinese artificial intelligence workers, despite the CCP’s legislation to force all AI in the country to adhere to “socialist values.” Even worse for someone supposedly so pro-free speech, Musk also wrote an article last August for China Cyberspace, “a monthly magazine run by the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC), the central agency for internet control and regulation,” according to a translation of the article on Beijing Channel and The Post Millennial. In his piece, Musk attempted to spur increased CCP interest in his microchip, artificial intelligence, and space travel projects.
If Musk really cared about freedom, he would not continue to deepen his ties to the genocidal CCP.