Musk: China always focused on growth

China is a nation full of smart, hardworking people, and one that has been historically focused on its growth and development, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said during a recent interview.

Musk, who visited China in June and met with President Xi Jinping during an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in San Francisco in the United States earlier this month, shared his positive impressions about China in the latest episode of the Lex Fridman Podcast.

Fridman, an artificial intelligence researcher at MIT focusing on autonomous vehicles, human-robot interaction and machine learning, engaged in a two-hour conversation with Musk on various topics including conflicts, AI, aliens and the relationship between China and the US.

“I’ve spent a lot of time in China and met with the leadership many times,” Musk told his host, while participating in the podcast for the fourth time. “The sheer number of really smart, hardworking people in China is incredible,” he said, adding that there are far more smart and hardworking people in China than there are in the US.

During his trip to China in June, Musk met with several senior Chinese officials and also visited Tesla’s super factory in Shanghai.

“We are happy with our progress in China. It’s going very well,” he told Xinhua News Agency on his arrival for a welcome dinner for President Xi organized by friendly organizations in the US last week. Musk further told Xinhua that he hopes China and the US can work together for global prosperity.

Speaking with Fridman at the podcast, the Tesla CEO, who is recognized by Bloomberg as the world’s wealthiest individual, lauded China’s remarkable development in terms of its transportation infrastructure.

“They’ve got a lot of energy (to build). ... The train stations, the buildings, the high-speed rails, everything … it’s really far more impressive than what we have in the US.”

Musk said that people should explore the architecture of Chinese cities, such as Beijing and Shanghai, and visit Xi’an to understand China’s storied history. He also mentioned that the Chinese language is among the oldest written languages in the world.

China has, historically, been “internally focused”, and works hard for its growth and development, he said. “They’ve not been acquisitive,” he said.

“From what I’ve seen, and I think most people who understand China would agree, people in China think about China 10 times more than they think about anything outside of China, so it’s like 90 percent of their consideration is internal.”

Musk also compared the Taiwan island and Hawaii from a geopolitical perspective. “China does feel very strongly about Taiwan. ... From their (Chinese people’s) standpoint, it (Taiwan) is like one of the states (provinces/regions) … but more significant than Hawaii (in the US). And Hawaii is pretty significant for us.”

Musk said he believes that China is not “acquisitive” and will never invade other countries.

“That (not being acquisitive) is a shared principle, I guess,” he added.