Tesla, running in the world's largest electric vehicle market in China, was suddenly called by the Chinese authorities and received intense public reprimands.
As Tesla made bold investments in China against the current of the US-China conflict and received full support from the Chinese authorities, this incident reveals a subtle change in the relationship between the friendly Chinese government and Tesla.
China's State Market Supervisory Authority announced that it had recently held a'reservation interview' with Tesla through the internet late on the 8th local time.
According to the announcement, five Chinese ministries, including the General Bureau of Market Supervision and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, participated in this reservation interview at the same time.
In this interview, the General Market Supervisory Authority explained that it had asked Tesla to "strictly comply with Chinese laws and strengthen internal management."
No more details have been disclosed, but in the context of the announcement, it can be assumed that China is strongly dissatisfied with Tesla's business behavior in the country.
The Chinese authorities did not mention individual cases, but were also reminded that consumers have recently complained about problems such as sudden launch of Tesla vehicles and burning of batteries.
At the authorities' high-intensity reprimand, Tesla fell prostrate.
Tesla said, "I will sincerely accept the government's guidance," and said, "We will deeply reflect on what was lacking in the company's management process and strengthen the internal control entirely."
Tesla has been treated with great care by the Chinese authorities as the best'foreign investment model student', so it is regarded as a dramatic reversal of the situation that the Chinese authorities took up the'return' this time.
In China, a'reserved interview' is a publicly criticized and communicated request by a government agency inviting officials or individuals to the supervised agency, and has a strong character of openly'catching the flag' in China, a socialist country with strong state control.
The fact that a company has been subject to public reprimand through a'reservation interview' also suggests the possibility of being engulfed by great uncertainty in the future.
A prime example is that Alibaba Group faced a number of difficulties, such as cancellation of the Ant Group listing and strengthening antitrust regulations, after Ma-Win, who made a provocative criticism of the authorities, was called to the authorities in the form of a'reservation interview' last November.
Tesla Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk made a large-scale investment to build the first overseas production base in Shanghai in 2018, when the US-China trade war began.
The president of the United States at the time of Trump made a drastic decision against the big trend of pushing for a full-fledged return (reshoring) of American companies to their home country by embarking on a full-fledged ``beating China''.
On the contrary, the Chinese government greatly welcomed various support, such as allowing a 100% stake in a local subsidiary for the first time as a foreign automaker investing in its own country.
That year, Mr. Musk was invited to Zhongnanhai, the residence and office of the Chinese leadership, and was greeted by Prime Minister Li Keqiang.
In the midst of this, the timing of the “change of attitude” of the Chinese government is uncommon.
In the midst of the US-China technology war, with China showing a strong commitment to fostering its own electric vehicle industry, it is time for Chinese native electric vehicle startups Wei Lai, Xiaofeng, and Li Xiang to enter the stage of mass production.
However, as Tesla's electric car is very popular among Chinese consumers, it is hard to observe that this single event, called the reservation interview, will not rapidly blur the prospect of Tesla's business in China.
"So far, problems with regulatory authorities (from around the world) have not significantly damaged Tesla's profitability," AFP said.
In addition, although China is advocating a'bicycle' (double cycle) strategy that maximizes dependence on the internal market, it must continue to attract foreign capital and maintain a close industrial network with the outside world. There are also observations that it will be difficult to be treated as roughly as Alibaba's.
(Photo = Getty Image Korea)