On the eve of Donald Trump’s inauguration, China’s envoy to the event, Han Zheng, met with JD Vance just before he takes the vice presidency.
With Xi Jinping not attending, it’s the highest-level contact between Beijing and the new US administration.
On the same day, Han had a separate meeting with Elon Musk, a close ally of Trump who also has a strong link with China thanks to his business interests there.
Musk and Han discussed issues including trade and investment, according to Chinese state media outlet Xinhua.
“Musk said that Tesla is willing to deepen investment and cooperation in China and play an active role in promoting US-China economic and trade exchanges,” Xinhua said.
Musk got special attention from Han, with a meeting separate from one with other US business leaders.
Beijing sees him as a more sympathetic figure than some of the China hawks in Trump’s inner circle, according to analysts.
Kyle Chan, a postdoctoral researcher in Chinese industrial policy at Princeton University, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in December that Musk was “uniquely positioned” to mediate between China and Trump.
Ali Wyne, Senior Research and Advocacy Adviser at the Crisis Group in Washington, DC, told Business Insider that Musk is an “unusually compelling interlocutor” for Chinese officials wary of Trump.
“Beyond being the world’s wealthiest individual and the owner of one of its most powerful social media platforms, X, he belongs to President Trump’s inner circle and has a vested interest in expanding Tesla’s operations in China,” he said.
The President-elect has threatened to impose new tariffs on China when he takes power, doubling down on the confrontational policies he pursued in his first term.
Key members of his cabinet, including Vance, believe that the US needs to more aggressively check China’s growing power.
Han “discussed a range of topics including fentanyl, balancing trade and regional stability” with Vance, according to the Trump transition team, as cited by The Associated Press.
Musk has extensive business ties in China, notably Tesla’s gigafactory near Shanghai.
Musk worked with Li Qiang, the former party secretary for Shanghai and the current Chinese premier, when he first sought to build a Tesla plant in China.
He frequently visits the country and has met Xi several times.
In a post on X on Sunday, Musk said he opposed the ban on TikTok, the Chinese-owned app that lawmakers last year voted to block access to in the US on national security grounds.
The ban came into effect Sunday, but the app restored its services after Trump said he’d delay the ban.
“That said, the current situation where TikTok is allowed to operate in America, but X is not allowed to operate in China is unbalanced,” he wrote. “Something needs to change.”
While Trump said he could escalate sanctions on China, the president-elect struck a different tone after a conversation by phone with Xi on Friday, saying the pair discussed fentanyl, the ban on TikTok, and trade.
Trump, in a break with historic precedent, invited Xi to his inauguration, a move some analysts interpreted as a power play.
While Xi declined, his decision to send Han, a top-ranking official, may show that Xi is willing to work with Trump to head off a potential trade war.
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