China’s Envoy Met Musk Forward of the Trump Inauguration.

• China’s vice chairman met VP-elect JD Vance on Sunday — and Elon Musk got here too.
• The conferences got here forward of Han Zheng’s deliberate attendance at Donald Trump’s inauguration.
• Beijing may see Musk, who makes Teslas in China, as a helpful go-between.

On the eve of Donald Trump’s inauguration, China’s envoy to the occasion, Han Zheng, met with JD Vance simply earlier than he takes the vice presidency.

With Xi Jinping not attending, it is the highest-level contact between Beijing and the brand new US administration.

On the identical day, Han had a separate assembly with Elon Musk, a detailed ally of Trump who additionally has a powerful hyperlink with China due to his enterprise pursuits there.

Musk and Han mentioned points together with commerce and funding, in line with Chinese language state media outlet Xinhua.

“Musk stated that Tesla is keen to deepen funding and cooperation in China and play an lively position in selling US-China financial and commerce exchanges,” Xinhua stated.

Musk acquired particular consideration from Han, with a gathering separate from one with different US enterprise leaders.

Beijing sees him as a extra sympathetic determine than a number of the China hawks in Trump’s interior circle, in line with analysts.

Kyle Chan, a postdoctoral researcher in Chinese language industrial coverage at Princeton College, advised the Australian Broadcasting Company in December that Musk was “uniquely positioned” to mediate between China and Trump.

Ali Wyne, Senior Analysis and Advocacy Adviser on the Disaster Group in Washington, DC, advised Enterprise Insider that Musk is an “unusually compelling interlocutor” for Chinese language officers cautious of Trump.

“Past being the world’s wealthiest particular person and the proprietor of considered one of its strongest social media platforms, X, he belongs to President Trump’s interior circle and has a vested curiosity in increasing Tesla’s operations in China,” he stated.

The President-elect has threatened to impose new tariffs on China when he takes energy, doubling down on the confrontational insurance policies he pursued in his first time period.

Key members of his cupboard, together with Vance, consider that the US must extra aggressively test China’s rising energy.

Han “mentioned a variety of matters together with fentanyl, balancing commerce and regional stability” with Vance, in line with the Trump transition crew, as cited by The Related Press.

Musk has in depth enterprise ties in China, notably Tesla’s gigafactory close to Shanghai.

Musk labored with Li Qiang, the previous get together secretary for Shanghai and the present Chinese language premier, when he first sought to construct a Tesla plant in China.

He often visits the nation and has met Xi a number of occasions.

In a put up on X on Sunday, Musk stated he opposed the ban on TikTok, the Chinese language-owned app that lawmakers final yr voted to dam entry to within the US on nationwide safety grounds.

The ban got here into impact Sunday, however the app restored its providers after Trump stated he’d delay the ban.

“That stated, the present scenario the place TikTok is allowed to function in America, however X will not be allowed to function in China is unbalanced,” he wrote. “One thing wants to alter.”

Whereas Trump stated he may escalate sanctions on China, the president-elect struck a special tone after a dialog by telephone with Xi on Friday, saying the pair mentioned fentanyl, the ban on TikTok, and commerce.

Trump, in a break with historic precedent, invited Xi to his inauguration, a transfer some analysts interpreted as an influence play.

Whereas Xi declined, his resolution to ship Han, a top-ranking official, might present that Xi is keen to work with Trump to go off a possible commerce battle.