Musk’s visit exposes malignancy of Washington’s ‘overcapacity’ claim

Coming hard on the heels of the rather gloomy visit by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, whose agenda for his trip seemed to be to hype up the US administration’s latest stay-away smear that China is dumping green products in overseas markets, Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s unannounced visit to Beijing had a much brighter atmosphere and sent a more positive message.

For Beijing, which is under tremendous pressure due to the United States-led Western push for economic decoupling and attacks on its leading industrial sectors, of which the exporting of alleged “overcapacity” is the latest manifestation, Musk’s visit was a testament to its continuous commitment to openness.

Sustaining a mutually beneficial partnership with one of the US’ leading technology leaders and EV manufacturers serves as a telling rebuttal of the US’ allegation that China is trying to squeeze the space for the green products of other countries, both at home and overseas.

Meeting with Musk on Sunday, Premier Li Qiang called Tesla’s China venture “a successful example of China-US economic and trade cooperation”.

It is clear that in his talk with the Tesla CEO the Chinese premier was extending a welcome to all foreign companies and making a clear rebuttal to the US’ “overcapacity” charge.

Coinciding with Musk’s arrival was the news that all the models produced at Tesla’s Shanghai factory have met Chinese data security requirements. Since the Chinese authorities had concerns about the US company’s data collection, Tesla vehicles have faced various restrictions in China. With all such restrictions expected to be removed, the appeal of Tesla products to Chinese consumers will certainly get a boost. It will also enable the country to accelerate the perfecting of the company’s Full Self-Driving software, which will further boost the appeal of its products.

But Beijing is not bestowing special favors on Tesla. It does not want the US EV-maker to be a lone example. It wants Tesla to be followed by more companies from outside the country.

Every new energy vehicle in China, every renewable energy project built by Chinese enterprises, and every Sino-foreign cooperation in the field of climate change, are examples of China’s new energy industry providing the world with the high-quality green production capacity that is imperative to realize the global climate goals.

China’s green production capacity is high-quality production capacity that promotes green development. The US is distorting facts and accusing China of “excess production capacity” in order to justify its protectionist policies and undermine efforts to repair Sino-US relations.

Editorial, China Daily