For some investors, investing in China was a matter of business. You know, early on, when China started growing big, American and European companies were investing in China because they felt that they could make money out of the Communist nation.
But some present-day investors are investing in China because they want to look smart. Even when China is emerging as a real inimical force for the free world, they keep investing in China despite all the risks just to set themselves apart from the ordinary. This is why Elon Musk’s love affair with China doesn’t seem to end and has, in fact, reached Xinjiang- the face of ugly Chinese human rights abuses.
Tesla opens a showroom in China-occupied Xinjiang
While the entire free world is slamming China for its brutal slavery practices in Xinjiang and ongoing genocide against the minority Uyghur Muslims community, electric car maker Tesla has opened a showroom in Xinjiang.
The Elon Musk-headed company opened the showroom in Urumqi on New Year’s eve. The move has come under severe criticism with Republican Senator Marco Rubio saying, “Nationless corporations are helping the Chinese Communist Party cover up genocide and slave labour in the region.”
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An American advocacy group urged Tesla to close the showroom and “cease what amounts to economic support for genocide.”
The US asks private companies to oppose the Chinese genocide
After the reports of Tesla opening a showroom in Xinjiang came out, the White House has urged the private sector to oppose human rights abuses and the ongoing genocide being carried out by Chinese authorities in Xinjiang.
Speaking at a press conference, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said that private companies failing to address issues of forced labour and human rights abuses in their supply chains face “serious legal, reputational, and customer risk,” at an international level as well as within the United States.
Psaki said, “I can’t speak to the specific situation of one company, but as a general matter, we believe the private sector should oppose the PRC’s human rights abuses and genocide in Xinjiang.” She added, “The international community, including the public and private sectors, cannot look the other way when it comes to what is taking place in Xinjiang.”
Musk and China- a one-sided love story
Tesla’s decision to open a showroom in Xinjiang may be getting condemned left, right and centre. But Elon Musk is absolutely in love with the communist regime.
His love for China went public in 2020, when the billionaire declared, “China rocks in my opinion. The energy in China is great. People there – there’s like a lot of smart, hardworking people. And they’re really — they’re not entitled, they’re not complacent, whereas I see in the United States increasingly much more complacency and entitlement especially in places like the Bay Area, and L.A. and New York.”
Musk’s love is however one-sided. China doesn’t care for him at all. In fact, Beijing has gone as far as dragging the United States to the UN and defaming Musk’s SpaceX globally over what Beijing described as two “close encounters” between the Chinese space station and Elon Musk’s SpaceX satellites.
Read More: Elon Musk and China are on collision course, literally
In fact, China has made every possible effort to scuttle Tesla’s presence in the Communist country. It has been heavily subsidising indigenous brands in order to produce cheap EVs domestically. Tesla is therefore being given a cold shoulder by China, even though Musk has lavished praise on the Communist country in the past.
The one-sided love affair however shows no signs of stopping anytime soon with Tesla’s decision to open a showroom in Xinjiang.