Premier, Musk call for deepening cooperation

Premier Li Qiang meets on Sunday with Elon Musk, founder and CEO of US electric car manufacturer Tesla, at Diaoyutai Guest House in Beijing. [FENG YONGBIN / CHINA DAILY]

Tesla's success in China has demonstrated that equal cooperation and mutual benefits conform to the fundamental interests of China and the United States, Premier Li Qiang said in a meeting on Sunday with Elon Musk, CEO of the US electric car maker.

Calling Tesla's development in China a successful example of trade cooperation between Beijing and Washington, Li expressed the hope that the US will work in the same direction as China to promote the stable development of bilateral ties.

China's huge market will always remain open to foreign enterprises, he emphasized.

Li pledged to continue to expand market access and improve services to provide a better business environment and stronger support for foreign enterprises, allowing them to invest in China with confidence and assurance.

Musk said thanks to the hard work and wisdom of the Chinese team, Tesla's Shanghai gigafactory is his company's top performer.

He expressed a willingness to deepen cooperation with China to achieve more mutually beneficial outcomes.

It was Musk's second visit to China, Tesla's second-biggest market, within a year.

Built and put into operation in 2019, the Shanghai factory, Tesla's first gigafactory outside the US, delivered 947,000 vehicles last year, which was 33 percent more than in 2022.

Musk was quoted by Chinese media as saying, upon his arrival in Beijing on Sunday afternoon, that it was "good to see electric vehicles making progress in China. All cars will be electric in the future".

Statistics show that China's new energy vehicle sales surged 37.9 percent year-on-year to about 9.5 million last year, accounting for more than 60 percent of the global total.

Musk's visit also came as the 2024 Beijing International Automotive Exhibition is underway. The auto show started on Thursday and will run through Saturday.

In a fact-finding trip to the auto show on Sunday, Premier Li emphasized developing intelligent connected NEVs and making the automobile industry more high-end, smarter and greener.

Li made the remarks after visiting the booths of companies including Dongfeng, BMW, Geely, Xiaomi and Xpeng.

China's NEVs have a leading edge in market competition and open cooperation, and efforts must be made to maintain and develop these advantages, he said.

Li called for Chinese carmakers to accelerate breakthroughs in core technologies and strengthen forward-looking technological research and development, in order to push for the upgrade of the auto industry.

Noting that the Chinese and global NEV markets are seeing continuous growth, he said that China will further promote building a unified national market and expand high-level opening-up.

China will treat domestic as well as foreign enterprises equally, and facilitate broader exchanges and cooperation between Chinese and foreign carmakers to promote common development and win-win outcomes, he said.

Efforts must be made to implement policies supporting purchases and usage, in order to further unleash the consumption potential of big-ticket items such as automobiles, he added.