Elon Musk's business ties to China draw scrutiny after Twitter purchase

[dalton99a]

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/elon-musks-business-ties-china-draw-scrutiny-twitter-purchase-rcna26057

Elon Musk’s business ties to China draw scrutiny after Twitter purchase
The Tesla CEO has built a close relationship with Chinese officials.
April 29, 2022, 1:11 PM CDT
By Louise Matsakis

China is Tesla’s second-largest market, responsible for producing around half its cars and generating more than a quarter of its revenue. In 2019, Tesla became the first foreign automaker to open an independent factory in China, which was recently selected by Shanghai authorities as one of 600 businesses that could reopen during a Covid lockdown in the city. Tesla secured roughly $1.6 billion in loans from Chinese banks to finance the project, and has also received a $1.8 billion investment from Tencent, one of China’s largest tech companies.

“There certainly is the potential that the Chinese could directly or indirectly put pressure on Musk to constrain how Twitter talks about China,” said Scott Kennedy, an expert in Chinese economic policy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank. “He’s supposed to be a guardian of the public square. That understandably raises questions given how invested Tesla is in China.”

In December, Tesla made its largest show of support for the Chinese government yet, announcing it had opened a showroom in the western Chinese region of Xinjiang, where human rights groups estimate more than 1 million Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities have been imprisoned in what the the U.S. government has labeled a genocide. Other Western companies have pledged to stop sourcing raw materials from Xinjiang, and Tesla’s move came just days after President Joe Biden signed a law restricting imports from the area.

“It is unthinkable that Mr. Musk’s company Tesla could operate in the hotbed of human rights violations without the blessing of the Chinese Communist Party,” Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr., D-N.J., said in a statement. “If Mr. Musk ultimately acquires Twitter, those relationships and the site’s behavior towards CCP (Chinese Communist Party) interests and freedom generally will demand close and continued scrutiny by Congress and the Biden administration.”

[TreasonousBastard]

1. China is a problem for Tesla, but Musk should be worrying about, Toyota, Ford, GM, VW, and Benz...

all of whom are fast coming up with really good electric vehicles and know who the target is. All of them have muttered about gas engines being gone in a few years.

Really, if you want a $100,000 car, would you get a Mercedes or a Tesla? For less money you can have an electric Mustang or Ionique 5. And Ford and Rivian already have a leg up on electric pickup trucks, with Chevy close behind.

[dalton99a]

2. +1. The big boys are getting ready

with their mass production prowess and their supply and distribution networks

[Miguelito Loveless]

6. Legacy auto is about 5 years behind

Tesla in EVs. And they are very late to the game in building battery factories and sourcing lithium, nickel, cobalt, and other materials needed. Most of the battery factories promised in the last year will not come on line for 18-24 months, at which point they will need materials. Anyone without existing purchase agreements (pre-dating 2020) for raw materials will be at the mercy of the spot market for those materials. Tesla has all of these and the clout to get more. It has solid long term contracts with Panasonic and CATL.

Musk is turning himself into a pariah by sticking his nose into politics, but his strategy build EVs and a sounds charging network have been spot on. While I would never spend $100K on any car, if my choice was between the $45K standard range Model 3 and any other EV, it would be the Tesla hands down, since it has a formidable, ubiquitous and easy to use supercharger network.

(For the record I own/owned both Tesla and non-Tesla EVs).

In my humble opinion the biggest threat to Tesla is not Toyota, GM, et al. It is Musk himself wasting his time on projects like Twitter and neglecting Tesla at this critical stage. He is also damaging all of his brands by feeding his ego and starying from his own stated missions.

[Budi]

3. Ahh yes. Explains Elon's disinfo campaign with GOP against the new Homeland Sec oversight

“If Mr. Musk ultimately acquires Twitter, those relationships and the site’s behavior towards CCP (Chinese Communist Party) interests and freedom generally will demand close and continued scrutiny by Congress and the Biden administration.”

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100216640548

[dalton99a]

4. Yep.

[bucolic_frolic]

5. In a democracy, power derives from the consent of the governed. Power from the top is an autocrat.

1A protects free speech, not controlled speech. This entire concentration of power is the opposite of our founding documents' stated purpose.

[Miguelito Loveless]

7. Indeed

Musk, like the majority of conservatives/libertarians, misunderstands the whole concept of the 1st Amendment.