Elon Musk Offered Chinese Green Card (politico.com)

hackingbear writes: During Elon Musk's trip to China for the ground-breaking of Tesla's first overseas factory, which will allow it to sell vehicles directly in the world's largest market for electric vehicles, he was offered a Chinese green card when he met with Premier Li Keqiang on Wednesday in Beijing, where they discussed Tesla's China ambitions. "I love China and want to come here more often," Musk was quoted as saying in the report. "If you do, we can issue you a Chinese green card," the premier replied. Getting a Chinese "green card" has been described as "one of the most difficult tasks in the world." By 2017, only about 10,000 foreigners had been granted permanent residency since the program was introduced in 2004, out of an estimated 1 million foreigners living in China; recipients include Dutch scientist Bernard Feringa, who won the 2016 Nobel Prize in chemistry.

Comments

It's a Trap!

[DatbeDank]

Any business leader, especially one the caliber of Elon Musk, willingly visiting China is taking a massive risk given the geopolitical machinations going on.
He'd have to be stupid to not think the Chicoms wouldn't in a heartbeat lock up the star of America's green tech.

I'd sooner visit Afghanistan, Yemen, or Somalia over China. At least the risks are obvious. In China, your freedom is on the whim of some self serving bureaucrats looking to boost their social credit scores.

No thank you!

Re:It's a Trap!

[dryriver]

Communists tend to "lock up" people with good intentions and high ideals - idealists, human rights campaigners, writers, intellectuals. Musk on the other hand is "billions of Dollars unencumbered by democratic ideals and human rights constraints just walked in the door" for China. Musk is exactly what they want - a wealthy industrialist who'll ignore China's horrific human rights abuses and manufacture and sell there anyway. Maybe they offered him the "Dragon Card" because he, for enough dough and benefits, offered to give China some of his SpaceX tech as well? The world is a complicated and often "upside-down" place. "Heroes of Innovation" are sometimes not "true heroes" in real life. A hero is someone who does NOT do anything he or she CAN do for big money. "Resisting temptation" and all that? =)

Re:It's a Trap!

[AuMatar]

Yes, because the US drives tanks over its protestors. And the US locks up political dissidents. Don't be fucking stupid.

Re:It's a Trap!

[Rei]

"Loose cannon" is probably a fair label. That said, anyone who ever actually watched the Joe Rogan interview could clearly see that Musk has almost no experience with smoking pot. ;) That interview was great for cracking jokes, of course.

That said, when it comes to China, it's clearly not about Musk; it's about much bigger issues. 4,5% of China's new car sales last year were electric - far higher than the US. China has now issued rules to make it almost impossible to build a new factory for making ICE vehicles in the country. Tesla's Gigafactory 3 is a statement of what they view as their electric future (cleantech is a key part of Xi Jinping Thought). They're also using it as a showcase for their ability to turn around major foreign projects quickly. All of their coverage has included clips of Musk talking about how amazed he is with how fast companies can get things done in China, and Shanghai in particular.

Tesla, being one of the world's most controversial "story stocks", invariably attracts a lot of attention to everything they do, and as a result pretty much everyone in the business world is watching how this project turns out. Which is exactly what they want. There's no question that Tesla has gotten some serious preferential treatment there - being the first foreign automaker to get to fully own a plant in China, getting a really rapid turnaround on the project, getting billions of dollars in uncollateralized loans, having Musk meet with premier Li Keqiang as if he were some sort of foreign diplomat, etc, etc. China wants this project, and they want to show off with it.

Re:It's a Trap!

[LynnwoodRooster]

I didn't realize we lock up hundreds of thousands without trial and "re-educate" them about their wrong thinking... And good luck going to China and posting on WeChat something critical of the Government or President Xi. Here in the US, you can protest all you want; in China if you protest the Government. They love to arrest and lock up journalists who speak out against the Government. If the same was in the US, Jim Acosta would have been in prison most of the last 24 months...

Re:It's a Trap!

[LynnwoodRooster]

China has now issued rules to make it almost impossible to build a new factory for making ICE vehicles in the country.

False. If you can read Mandarin, you can read for yourself. SMALL companies will be stopped, but those big Government entities - Geely, BAIC, SAIC, BYD, and others are exempt. They can expand all they want. Why? They are Government owned, and the Government gets to do what it wants.

And do you realize that Musk was really there to celebrate the opening of a Chinese factory that carries the Tesla name? It's not a Tesla factory - car factories/companies in China must be at least a joint venture, and must be at least 51% owned by Chinese entities (people or companies). Elon and Tesla don't own controlling interest in that factory - it's a Chinese factory wearing the Tesla badge.

Re:It's a Trap!

[Rei]

LOL. Tesla has several dozen people at the VP level or higher. The average executive changes jobs every 3-5 years. At a high-stress company like Tesla with frequent changes in needs, you should expect significantly shorter.

If you're going to freak out every time a person at the VP level or higher leaves Tesla, you're going to be freaking out a lot. But all means, please don't let that stop you. I love the ever-so predictable lows and highs in this stock. Good buy points wouldn't be so easy to come by if not for people like you.

Re:It's a Trap!

[Rei]

Cough.

BEIJING — Electric car producer Tesla will build its first factory outside the United States in Shanghai, becoming the first wholly foreign-owned automaker in China.

Seriously, google it.

As for your PDF:

Chapter III Fuel Vehicle Vehicle Investment Project
Article 11
It is forbidden to construct the following fuel vehicle investment projects (not sold in China) Except for investment projects for sale of products):
(1) Newly built independent fuel vehicle enterprises;
(2) Existing automobile enterprises build fuel vehicle production in the category of passenger cars and commercial vehicles ability;
(3) The existing fuel automobile enterprises are relocated to other provinces as a whole (included in the national level) Development planning or projects that do not change the ownership structure of the company);
(4) Investing in fuel automobile enterprises that are specifically publicized by the industry management departments (enterprise) Except for investment projects in which the original shareholder invests or converts the enterprise into a non-independent legal entity)

Existing ICE automakers are pushing back against the rules, calling them impossible to meet.

China has made it clear what it expects its future to be, and it's electric. Not "several decades from now", but "very soon".

Re:It's a Trap!

[Rei]

Tesla was granted an exception to WFOE rules. I'm not sure why you're having trouble following links or using Teh Google. 2022 is when the rule change goes through and applies to everyone.

And foreign automakers operating in China disagree with you about whether this rule change effectively prohibits them from starting new factories in the country.

Re:It's a Trap!

[Rei]

Literally every article on the subject says the exact same thing: Tesla's GF3 is the first fully foreign owned auto factory in China and they were granted an exception for this. Tesla has no Chinese partner in the project. Period. Google it. If you want to keep asserting something against all very accessible facts, then by all means, cite Tesla's fictional Chinese partner.

I'm waiting.

Re:It's a Trap!

[Gavagai80]

Musk is from South Africa. He lives in the USA because it's expedient. He's not some American agent pushing America's agenda, and China knows that.

The risk of landing in prison is far, far higher in the USA than in China for anyone who isn't a political activist. The USA has 4% of the world's population and 22% of the world's prisoners.

Re: It's a Trap!

[LynnwoodRooster]

To be honest, it was our prior President who did that. I don't think the current President would do that. He seems to play a lot closer to the Constitution...

Re:Its So Much Quicker To Steal EV Tech...

[ShanghaiBill]

Couldn't you make stuff just as cheaply in Ghandi's India

No. Absolutely not. India is far more corrupt, bureaucratic, and inefficient than China. Chinese workers are four times as productive as Indians. All the supply chains are in China, and it is easy to find people with manufacturing expertise.

Plus is China, the corruption WORKS: You bribe one guy, and you get the permit to build your factory. In India, you bribe one guy, and he steps aside so you can deal with the next bureaucrat with his hand out. It can take years to get a license to operate a fruit stand. A car factory? Forget it.

Go visit both China and India. You will be astounded at the divergence in living standards. China is far more prosperous. There are reasons for that.

Personal experience

[fubarrr]

Personal experience:

Chinese green card is a thing about which people have very mixed feelings. Application chances are totally random, privileges are a mixed blessing. Chinese state does not give a consistent message about what people should to expect from it.

In other words, it is a very hard to get, yet near meaningless document in comparison to 5 and 10 year work visas, aside you becoming fully subject to the glorious Chinese legal and tax system...

I knew one brilliant expat entrepreneur, undoubtedly a woman of exceptional achievement.

She lived in China since she was 14. She got her PhD in nanotechnology at 26, and by 27 she had an own chemical business that she made with money she won from "1000 talent plan" â" a national level scientific grant.

She owned a number of patents, and spoke 5 languages freely (including 2 Chinese dialects,) and she was a stunning tall beauty on top of that...

I would've said that is somebody was an ideal applicant, it would be her. She went to apply for that green card, and got a refusal notice _the next day_ with reason stated along the lines "we considered your high achievements, but you are too young and lack class..."

The attitudes of Chinese elites towards things like talent, merit, entitlement and personal achievement had not changed much in past decades. China was and is an extremely elitist and snobby country.

This attitude is pretty much telling "talented youngsters have no value besides being patronees,
and pages to the elite"

Re:Its So Much Quicker To Steal EV Tech...

[LynnwoodRooster]

LOL! Voting in China? You've ever lived there, or have Chinese family? Not a chance! The party controls all, down to the local level. IF your family is chosen as one that gets a vote (not all families get the right to vote), the Party chooses which member of your family gets to vote. It is 100% fascist/dictatorship based Government. There is a vote as much as there were votes for Saddam Hussein.

Here are the results of the latest 2018 election; the closest race was Zhang Jun who ran for the Minister of Justice, he sqeaked by with just 99.49% of the vote - that is a nail-biter in China!

There are NO elections in China, it's window-dressing only for outsiders to feel better about the Country. All positions are pre-selected, pre-arranged, and done only with the blessing of the Central Communist Party leadership only.

Re:Your mail-order whore can't wait to poison you

[Rei]

Examples:

  * Crystal meth
  * Fixing up your trailer
  * Sleeping with your cousin
  * Adding another confederate flag sticker to your pickup
  * Not graduating from high school

Come on, there's loads of other things you could be doing apart from racist trolling on Slashdot.