Elon Musk said on Saturday that if Tesla vehicles were used to spy on China, the company would be closed, Reuters reported. Musk made the observation while speaking via a video link to the China Development Forum, addressing reports that China has banned its military and government officials from using Tesla vehicles for security reasons.
“There is a strong incentive for us to be very confidential with any information,” said Musk at the forum. “If Tesla used cars to spy on China or anywhere, we will be closed.”
Wall Street Newspaper reported on Friday that people who work for China’s military, government agencies and “state-owned companies in sensitive sectors” have been banned from running Teslas. China is concerned that Tesla’s external cameras, which constantly record images, could be used to collect images to be sent back to the United States, according to the daily.
China is a big market for Tesla and electric vehicles; according Reuters the automaker sold 147,445 vehicles in the country last year, which represented 30% of its global total.
How Bloomberg notes, Tesla and its leader have adopted a different tone with the Chinese authorities than with their American counterparts. For example, last month Tesla apologized that one of its employees blamed China’s power grid for damaging a customer’s vehicle: “We deeply regret the misunderstanding and would like to apologize to the Nanchang Power Network for the inconvenience. caused, “Tesla said in a video.
Musk and Tesla were more aggressive in their responses to American officials; the CEO once disconnected a call with the president of the National Transportation Safety Board, and last year he ran into the head of Alameda County, California, where Tesla’s Fremont plant is located, due to coronavirus restrictions .