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       How Elon Musk Became ‘Kind of Pro-China’

       Mr. Musk helped create China’s electric vehicle industry. But he is now facing challenges there as well as scrutiny in the West over his reliance on the country.

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       Elon Musk, Tesla’s chief executive, dancing onstage during a delivery event for Tesla’s China-made Model 3 cars in Shanghai in 2020.Credit...Aly Song/Reuters

       By Mara Hvistendahl

       March 27, 2024Updated 2:53 a.m. ET

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       When Elon Musk first set up Tesla’s factory in China, he appeared to have the upper hand.

       He gained access to top leaders and secured policy changes that benefited Tesla. He also got workers accustomed to long hours and fewer protections, after clashing with U.S. regulators over labor conditions at his California plant. The Shanghai factory helped make Tesla the most valuable car company in the world and Mr. Musk ultrarich.

       But Tesla is now struggling. Mr. Musk helped create his competition, Chinese E.V. makers that are taking market share and becoming a security concern for the United States and Europe.

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       Musk’s Interests in China

       A Pivot to China Saved Elon Musk. It Also Binds Him to Beijing.

       Tesla benefited from a Chinese policy it helped shape. In California, where Tesla launched its first car in 2008, the company has profited from an emissions mandate that allows it to sell credits — billions of dollars worth of them — to automakers that cannot meet pollution targets.

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       As Mr. Musk turned to China, his lobbyists encouraged leaders there to adopt a similar policy. Emails and other documents we obtained show they worked through California environmentalists intent on cleaning up China’s air.

       More on China No Country for iPhones: China is Apple’s second-largest market. But there are signs that its products no longer appeal to Chinese consumers as they did in the past. A Frontline Island: A fatal episode off Kinmen, a small Taiwanese-controlled island, has become the latest occasion for Beijing to warn Lai Ching-te, Taiwan’s president-elect, as he prepares to take office. ‘Gross Outfits’ at Work: Young Chinese people are proudly posting pictures of themselves showing up at the office in furry slippers and sweatpants, the latest sign that some of China’s youth are resisting the compulsion to strive. Family Planning Propaganda: For decades, China's one-child policy was woven into the fabric of everyday life. Now, faced with a shrinking and aging population, the government is using the same propaganda channels to send the opposite message.

       Beijing adopted the policy, which was also being promoted by groups unconnected to Tesla, in 2017. After Tesla opened its Shanghai factory in 2020, the company earned hundreds of millions of dollars in credits through the policy, according to the market analysis company CRU Group.

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       Mara Hvistendahl is an investigative reporter for The Times focused on Asia. More about Mara Hvistendahl

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