The Foreign Ministry of the People’s Republic of China published comments reportedly made by tech billionaire Elon Musk on Tuesday in which the billionaire argued that the economies of the U.S. and China are too codependent to be decoupled, even going so far as to refer to the two systems as “conjoined twins.”
A statement released by the Ministry on Tuesday evening featured Chinese officials quoting Musk telling Foreign Minister Qin Gang that American and Chinese economic interests are “inseparable.” Meanwhile, Qin, formerly China’s Ambassador to the United States, told the Tesla founder that “Chinese-style modernization” would lead to “unprecedented growth potential and market demand,” contributing to a burgeoning electric vehicle market.
News of the friendly visit was rewarded by investors on Wall Street as Tesla shares rose over 4 percent before the NASDAQ closed for the day.
Musk is among a growing list of American executives to travel to China in recent months to shore up relations in the wake of Covid, which has contributed to an escalation of rhetoric from both sides. In May, Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan’s long-time leader, and Starbucks head Laxman Narasimhan stopped by. In March, Apple executive, Tim Cook, similarly visited the country.
Relations between the two superpowers have grown increasingly rocky as American public opinion has rapidly soured on China since the global pandemic. By 2023, Pew found that just 14 percent of Americans have a favorable view of China as opposed to 83 percent holding a negative view.
Shifting attitudes have translated politically into legislators demanding the United States take a more active role in combatting Chinese economic and political influence. In late April, a group of Republican senators, led by Bill Hagerty of Tennessee, demanded the Biden administration “use all available tools” to impose “sanctions, export restrictions, and investment bans” on Chinese tech companies, including Alibaba and Huawei.
“We are deeply concerned about this growing trend of PRC-based cloud computing services engaging with entities that directly impact the national security interests of the United States,” the group of lawmakers wrote at the time.
Last year, Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo explicitly addressed concerns about technological espionage and unfair Chinese business practices by underscoring the importance of ongoing economic cooperation. “It’s important that we get the bilateral economic relationship right, not just by protecting but also by actively promoting our economic interests in trade,” the secretary told reporters in November 2022.
“We are not seeking the decoupling from China.”
Similar rhetoric was echoed by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. “I certainly hope and expect that there will continue to be very strong ties between China and the United States when it comes to mutually beneficial trade and investment,” the secretary said during a New York Times summit held the same year.
“And this is not something that I think would be beneficial, either to the United States or to China or to the global economy, to see erode.”