Tesla Inc. has recently been criticized by the Chinese Communist Party’s official media, from being accused of “spying on cars” to “brake failure. Some experts believe that the Chinese Communist Party’s crackdown on Tesla may be a blow to CEO Musk’s other satellite business, after he traded the market for key technology.
China is Tesla’s largest market after the United States, accounting for about a quarter of the company’s global sales in 2020. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Two women wearing T-shirts with the words “Brake Failure” protest at the Tesla booth on the first day of the Shanghai International Automobile Industry Exhibition 2021 (Auto Shanghai), one of them standing on top of a Tesla Model 3 and repeatedly shouting “Tesla brake failure! “. When she was taken to the Tesla employee break area by security guards, others shouted “Tesla get out”.
The media reported that the woman standing on top of the car, surnamed Zhang, said her father was driving the Tesla car she bought on February 21 when he found that the car did not slow down when the brakes were applied, and then a collision occurred.
Tesla’s official microblogging site issued a response on the same day (April 19), saying “no compromise on unreasonable claims”.
It is worth noting that this was originally seen as an ordinary commercial dispute, but it was criticized by the Chinese Communist Party’s media, while online water forces attacked Tesla in a “one-sided” manner.
Chang’an Jian, a media outlet under the CCP’s Central Committee for Political Science and Law, issued an article saying, “Whether or not it compromises, Tesla will have to face the torture of Chinese customers.” Xinhua, a mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party, published an opinion piece in which it declared in high profile that “no matter which car company, they must have respect for the Chinese market.” It criticized “Tesla executives’ arrogant response and who gave Tesla the courage to ‘not compromise’.”
Late on April 20, Tesla’s official Weibo post apologized for failing to solve the owners’ problems in a timely manner and promised to cooperate with all investigations by all relevant government departments. However, the comment section is still full of cynical comments from the network water army.
Public information shows that Tesla is the largest electric car and solar panel company in the U.S. In July 2018, the Tesla China factory was officially settled in Shanghai Lingang after Elon Musk and the Shanghai government signed an agreement.
As a result of the U.S.-China trade war, Tesla was fortunate to be the first Western car company to build a wholly-owned factory in China and has quickly become the “leader” in China’s electric vehicle industry, accounting for about a quarter of the company’s global sales in 2020. China is Tesla’s largest market after the United States, and Musk has publicly praised China on several occasions.
In response to the Tesla incident, Taiwanese economist Wu Jialong said in an interview that, on a purely commercial level, this is meant to undermine the reputation of the Tesla brand. And the Chinese Communist Party has other objectives to achieve behind some of its political moves, similar to the way it treats other foreign companies.
“It is reasonable to presume that this is a farce and not just a customer complaint. The purpose of the female owner is to discredit Tesla, which is tantamount to asking Tesla to admit that the product is flawed, that it causes public safety, etc. That result of course will affect Tesla’s electric car market in China.” He said.
The Chinese Communist Party wants to drive Tesla out of China?
Back in February, the Communist Party’s General Administration of Market Supervision and the Central Internet Information Office and five other departments interviewed Tesla, citing consumer complaints about quality issues, and issued a warning to the electric car maker.
In March, Tesla was accused of “spying on cars” and was restricted from using them in the military, state-owned enterprises in sensitive industries and important institutions. Musk continued to clarify this statement.
Wu Jialong believes that the first purpose of doing so is the same as driving Tesla out of China, which is equivalent to tightening the market. If Tesla wants to remain in the Chinese electric car market, it may have to accept other so-called regulation, including corrupt practices, and it may also be that Tesla has to come up with other conditions, such as certain technologies, key technologies.
“After Tesla is invited in, the Chinese side may go to understand or even steal some of its key technologies, such as batteries, because batteries for electric vehicles have been listed by the Biden administration as one of the four strategic materials.”
He said, “With Tesla ‘first come in, then come in’, let you sell for a year and a half or two years, then start making things happen, that is, either drive Tesla out or ask Tesla to take other key technologies in exchange.”
“The key technology for electric cars is the battery. That electric car battery technology can drive Tesla out if the Chinese side already has a grasp of it, because the manufacturing of the product the Chinese side also has companies doing it.”
The reporter noticed that Allan, general manager of Tesla China, recently liked a net conversation posted by a senior car expert on Weibo, which showed that “Tesla technology is open and decentralized, so that so many domestic cars can enjoy the benefits.”
Tesla enthusiasts discuss the openness and decentralization of Tesla technology, and Allan, the general manager of China, praised it. (Weibo picture)
Wu Jialong analyzed that one advantage of driving Tesla out is to save foreign exchange expenses, while allowing Chinese companies to develop their own electric vehicles. The electric vehicle industry has also been listed as an important project for the Chinese Communist Party to “bend the curve” and become another key industry after semiconductors. It is only a matter of time before Xi Jinping or the Chinese government will start to take an important position in electric vehicles and new energy.
Starlink plan can break through the firewall of the Communist Party of China
Tesla’s boss, Musk, has another business called SpaceX, the space exploration technology company, which launched the “Starlink Project” to provide high-speed Internet access through a fleet of satellites in near-Earth orbit, covering the whole world.
Wu Jialong further analysis pointed out that the focus of the Chinese Communist Party now may be another business of Tesla boss SpaceX, take Tesla to do articles, may be drunken.
According to the introduction, SpaceX launched a large number of satellites in recent years, in the future there will be a lot of satellites linked into a star chain, which constitutes a high-speed Internet service. In this way, the U.S. communications business to directly skip 5G into 6G, and can help many poor countries without network infrastructure directly online, which is greater than the function of the new energy of electric vehicles.
He said, “In the future, the whole world, all over the world will have access to the Internet, which means that the Chinese Communist Party’s network firewall will be breached, and this matter may be more serious. Because this issue is the survival of the party for the CCP.”
“SpaceX has a much bigger danger factor for the CCP. So now when it hits Tesla, it’s actually hitting Musk, hitting Musk’s other business, and when the time comes to negotiate, it’s not just electric cars it may even be SpaceX, so it may be drunk.”
To sum up, Wu Jialong analysis that the Chinese Communist Party’s fight in this war is to take the Chinese market in exchange for each other’s key technology, called the market for technology or forced technology transfer, which is the unfair trade practices that the Trump administration is talking about inside the trade war. Now used in the electric car industry, and then use state subsidies to support domestic enterprises, which also belongs to unfair trade practices.
After the technology is in place, then the other side out, while China’s own products to foreign markets to compete with each other, to compete for market share, to occupy more market share, this set of practices is called China business law or China model.
The next thing to attack, to squeeze is Musk’s other business SpaceX. satellites also have a military use, can be the Chinese Communist Party’s Beidou satellite navigation these functions destroyed. If you want to start a war, you need a satellite to guide you when you launch a missile, and the consequences are even worse.
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