Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, has signed a letter promising to uphold China's "core socialist values" in exchange for the right to keep doing business in the country.
After Tesla and others in the electric vehicle industry slashed prices last year to choke out smaller competitors, Chinese authorities demanded that the industry change its behavior, calling the move "reckless."
According to the Financial Times, China accounts for about one-third of Tesla's total sales, and Tesla was the only non-Chinese firm to sign on to the letter.
Since acquiring Twitter last year, Musk has become something of a hero to the American right due to his promises to transform the platform into a safe space for dissenting viewpoints.
However, the billionaire CEO's Chinese business dealings have put his status in jeopardy. While visiting China last month, Elon Musk compared the economies of the United States and China, calling them "conjoined twins," and stated his opposition to efforts to separate the two global superpowers.
Musk told the Financial Times last year that Taiwan should be under the control of the Chinese Communist Party as a "special administrative zone," and he has since tweeted praise for the Chinese regime's "economic prosperity" in replies to state media accounts. Qin Gang, the Chinese ambassador to the United States, immediately praised the idea.
I appreciate @elonmusk's proposal to create a special administrative zone for Taiwan and his call for peace across the Taiwan Strait. In reality, our guiding principles for settling the Taiwan question are peaceful reunification and One Country, Two Systems...," tweeted Gang.
Critics from all sides of the political spectrum marveled at Musk's "socialist values" tweet.
To paraphrase, "How can you denounce a 'woke mind virus' one day and then pledge to the Chinese government that you will uphold 'core socialist values' the next?" questioned Jim Geraghty of National Review.
According to Media Matters' Matthew Gertz, "Self-proclaimed free speech absolutist Elon Musk's Tesla has joined Chinese automakers in pledging to enhance 'core socialist values,' a term that generally means not criticizing the Chinese government."
After Tesla and others in the electric vehicle industry slashed prices last year to choke out smaller competitors, Chinese authorities demanded that the industry change its behavior, calling the move "reckless."
According to the Financial Times, China accounts for about one-third of Tesla's total sales, and Tesla was the only non-Chinese firm to sign on to the letter.
Since acquiring Twitter last year, Musk has become something of a hero to the American right due to his promises to transform the platform into a safe space for dissenting viewpoints.
However, the billionaire CEO's Chinese business dealings have put his status in jeopardy. While visiting China last month, Elon Musk compared the economies of the United States and China, calling them "conjoined twins," and stated his opposition to efforts to separate the two global superpowers.
Musk told the Financial Times last year that Taiwan should be under the control of the Chinese Communist Party as a "special administrative zone," and he has since tweeted praise for the Chinese regime's "economic prosperity" in replies to state media accounts. Qin Gang, the Chinese ambassador to the United States, immediately praised the idea.
I appreciate @elonmusk's proposal to create a special administrative zone for Taiwan and his call for peace across the Taiwan Strait. In reality, our guiding principles for settling the Taiwan question are peaceful reunification and One Country, Two Systems...," tweeted Gang.
Critics from all sides of the political spectrum marveled at Musk's "socialist values" tweet.
To paraphrase, "How can you denounce a 'woke mind virus' one day and then pledge to the Chinese government that you will uphold 'core socialist values' the next?" questioned Jim Geraghty of National Review.
According to Media Matters' Matthew Gertz, "Self-proclaimed free speech absolutist Elon Musk's Tesla has joined Chinese automakers in pledging to enhance 'core socialist values,' a term that generally means not criticizing the Chinese government."
