Tesla CEO Elon Musk described Chinese President Xi Jinping as “a great leader” and “very capable” during an interview with China’s state broadcaster on Wednesday, just hours before Xi left China for a summit with US President Donald Trump.
“He seems like a great leader. Under his tenure, China has prospered immensely. I’ve seen it first hand,” Musk said in one of a series of videos posted on CCTV’s social media account.
“And it’s also obvious to see just walking around the streets, the … prosperity of the average Chinese citizen has increased tremendously. All that seems to happen under President Xi while he’s been the leader of China. So he’s clearly done an excellent job and is very capable.”
Musk will be among a group of leading US technology executives expected to attend a White House state dinner on Thursday, along with Sam Altman of OpenAI, Nvidia’s Jensen Huang, Apple’s Tim Cook and others, Reuters reported.
Musk has extensive business ties with China, with Shanghai home to Tesla’s largest overseas manufacturing base. In recent years, those ties have drawn scrutiny in Washington because Musk also controls SpaceX, a major Pentagon and US intelligence contractor.