Riyaz ul Khaliq
20 January 2025•Update: 21 January 2025
ISTANBUL
China’s Vice President Han Zheng has met with billionaire Elon Musk as part of Beijing’s high-level representation ahead of the inauguration of US President-elect Donald Trump.
Han met with Musk, the CEO of Tesla, “welcoming American companies … to seize the opportunities, share in the outcomes of China’s development, and make greater contributions to promoting China-US economic and trade relations,” according to Chinese Ambassador to Washington Xie Feng on Sunday.
Alongside entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, Musk is set to join the Trump administration as the co-chief of the Department of Government Efficiency.
Beginning his trip to the US, Han met with US Vice President-elect JD Vance on Sunday, and the two sides discussed bilateral as well as international relations.
China’s President Xi Jinping and Trump “reached many important common understandings on the future development of China-US relations during their important” phone call recently, Han said.
“China is willing to work with the US to follow the strategic guidance of heads-of-state diplomacy, implement the important common understandings reached between the two leaders, and advance the stable, healthy, and sustainable development of China-US relations,” he said.
Trump and Xi spoke over the phone last week. It was the second phone call between the two since Trump won the Nov. 5 presidential elections.
According to the Chinese ambassador, Han also met with the representatives of the US business community.
“China and the US share extensive common interests and vast room for cooperation. A good start and the stable development of China-US relations will serve the common well-being of the Chinese and American people and meet the shared expectations of the international community,” he said.
“The US business community has always been a staunch force supporting China-US relations, having participated in, witnessed, contributed to and benefited from China-US economic cooperation and China’s reform and opening up,” the Chinese vice president said.
“China will unswervingly advance reform and opening up, and will keep optimizing the business environment,” he added.
