Xiaotong (Tom) Zhu joined Tesla in 2014. Before that Zhu was Vice President for Kaibo Engineering Group, a China-based project management firm that focuses on overseas projects (One Belt – One Road) invested by the Chinese government.
One would think a project manager tied to the key initiatives of Chairman Xi, would have deep CCP ties. There is also speculation that Mr. Musk may be assigning Mr. Zhu to be the lead of Tesla internationally.
(Via Bloomberg) Elon Musk has tapped a longtime Tesla Inc. executive in China who oversaw construction of the Shanghai gigfactory to help run the electric carmaker’s newest plant in Austin, Texas, people familiar with the matter said.
Tom Zhu, who joined Tesla in 2014 to help build its Supercharger network and most recently has been heading the carmaker’s Asia Pacific operations, is in Austin this week and has brought some of his engineering team from China with him to assist in overseeing the ramp up of Giga Texas — a US hub for the Model Y and future production of the Cybertruck — the people said, asking not to be identified because they’re not authorized to speak publicly.
It’s not clear how long Zhu will be in Austin for, or whether he will retain his Asia responsibilities, the people said.
Representatives at Tesla in the US and China didn’t respond to requests for comment. Zhu wasn’t immediately able to be contacted. Musk also didn’t respond to messages seeking comment.
The shift of Zhu to Austin comes as Tesla has been trying to increase output at its new Texas factory. The US electric vehicle pioneer originally planned to make Model Y SUVs using its new, larger 4680 lithium-ion cells at the plant, which Musk referred to as a “money furnace” earlier this year. But instead, Tesla has pivoted to using older 2170 cells considering the new batteries weren’t ready for volume production. (read more)
No comments is a form of censorship, secretiveness/hiding, and essentially lying.
“Can’t comment on on-going investigations” is my favorite
But they sure do leak alot.
No one is coming to save you.
They never were.
Jesus will
Jesus has.
Eventually, the chits come due.
I DEARLY love THAT! AMEN!
And NO SUBSIDIES ALLOWED!!!
I would like to see them try and manufacture an EV without using coal, natural gas or petroleum for any step in that process including extracting and refining the raw resources to do so.
And slave labor in Chy-nuh!
And child labor in Africa to hand mine the cobalt for the 400lb batteries.
“If we only figure out a way to grow them….”
🙂
Weather Forecast: Cloudy
Best reply ever.
Yup!
Been saying that for a long time.
Make them live the entirety of their lives on 100% renewable / so-called green energy!!
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Musk isn’t your hero.
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He is revealing many crimes so I’ll be happy to credit him that much.
This Corbett Report on Musk proves it. He’s also a WEF Young Leader.
https://www.corbettreport.com/musk/
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Thank you for this link. People won’t listen, so here’s the summary:
A dot-com millionaire who strangely was promoted out of whole cloth including by Hollywood in the mid-90s before there wasn’t much unique to promote… universal income because robots will take over most jobs… carbon tax… “Cure Vac” vaccine printer… “Give ‘people’ their freedom back” move from California to Texas… 2007 article about Paypal versus Peter Theil… brain chipping humans to compete with AI, neuralink… SpaceX, Tesla etc. etc. mainstream stuff but see wikispooks WEF young global leader back in 2008… okay with New World Order… was against the covid vaxx before he was for it… Starlink and support for Ukraine…
The “real-life Tony Stark” and rescuer of Thai children from caves?… but, Corbett repeatedly asks: what is his philosophy… Accelerating travel to and population of Mars to build the Martian technocracy… X.com to Paypal… huge financial support and backing from billions in taxpayer money from U.S. government… multi-billionaire of two [now three?] big companies that are not commercially viable… much on the worldwide “mystique” and eccentricity promotion and PR…
A “conman” (says Corbett) who pops up whenever a big issue arises in the world — and he just somehow has a company working on it… grandson of eccentric “subversive” Joshua Haldeman of the Canadian banned technocracy movement and party (scientific movement that advocates for technocrats to be in charge of society)… “Technocracy” is a very specific word, not a casual comment…
Corbett notes that Musk sporadically says a lot of things that superficially sound good but drills down to what is really meant behind them, usually things that are momentarily (financially) self-serving or else could be taken two ways, such as being against mass transit or professing that there is no overpopulation… e.g. Hyperloop… Corbett calls some of these “innovations” actually public swindles (not all of them fly)…
Saying the right things sometimes to keep from being taken down by the public or the globalist controllers… the entire twitter deal facilitated an 8.5 billion-dollar Tesla stock liquidation that would have benefitted Musk financially either way, whether it went forward or not…
Musk gets involved in even more oddly disparate certain kinds of “things” than, e.g. Gates: example from futurism.com, brain-hacked neuralink monkeys (grisly gruesome monkey deaths)… [links provided]… what is the ultimate end-goal of this UCDavis/Musk experimentation/partnership?…
He has been put into positions that somehow manage to advance the globalist agenda and consequently is mysteriously hugely financed in ways that no ordinary businessman would be (the “cash-poor” “richest man in the world”). It is a deeper, darker agenda than people realize. Starlink, SpaceX, the transhuman nightmare… billed as the big grand new frontier exploration that attracts so many fans… carbon taxes, brain chips, universal human enslavement…
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Having watched the cult of personality that has grown up around Musk, I’ve always been a little worried about what he is up to. It is true his “billions” have mostly been “made” via taxpayer funds. He has his fingers in far too many bad areas, while at the same time doing things like the Twitterfiles that ingratiate him to the masses. I still don’t trust him, but also recognize that (perhaps con man?) people like him can’t walk the tightrope forever. Eventually, they have to come down on one side or the other, or slip up and are totally exposed except to the blindest of followers.
I really, really want to believe that Musk will use Twitter to restore free speech. If he doesn’t step up, who will? How can he not see that he will be a GOAT, lauded as a brave hero FOREVER?
But then I also realize that it is easiest to con someone when they WANT… no …NEED… to believe.
I enjoy watching Musk slay dragons….
But…
his actions speak louder than words.
Jesus is my hero.
Now having said that, when NASA was unable to launch a rocket into space, Elon Musk figured out a way to make it happen. So I think I’m going to cut the guy a little slack.
Been saying that for a long time. Having said that, I’m watching the release of the Twitterfiles very closely. We have enough circumstantial evidence that the U.S. IC was behind a lot of what was going on. I’m curious as to whether Musk allows the hard evidence I strongly suspect is there, to be released. Musk is doing all of this for Musk, though. Of that, I have little doubt.
Thanks for the summary.
I am not a brilliant commenter but I always come back to, didn’t we already know Twitter censored and banned people and topics that were not in keeping with the global ruling elites’ agenda?’ After 3 years of controlled and highly effective conditioning, the majority of Americans are not paying attention.
Almost 80 million Americans have gotten the jab, the fraudulent election machinations are now cemented, children are being castrated and subject to abuses at school and the economy is tanking.
So, why didn’t the genius Musk buy Twitter in March 2020 when the propagandists and NWO’ers were going nuts censoring and silencing anybody trying to get the truth out about Covid, trans horrors and the subversion of our free elections?
And then of all people, it’s the leftist elitist writer for RS, Taibbi, who hates conservatives and President Trump, who is picked to be the messenger.
It’s always after the prodigious suffering and death, that the official texts of how Twitter aided in our own pain and loved ones’ deaths come out. Gee, how convenient.
I’m not worried about Chinese project management and engineering, I’m worried that they might not be woke and are using incorrect pronouns.
I’m more “worried” they are CCP/FBI/CIA/DHS/etc Collectivists dead set on creating more crimes against humanity under the usual guise of “The Greater Good” for the country (leaders) or the people (leaders).
The original spoken Chinese language had no gender specific pronouns, so no worries there.
It’s a big world.
Will we be in it?
I can hear the ghost of George in your comment.
We have an Empire…
I wonder. not according to the book of Revelation…
Musk must continue to sell those motorized flamethrower to the hapless billions in China.
Would not surprise me if Musk did not plug his brain into AI before bed time. Musk must regenerate before facing the next day!
You might be more right than you think you are….
State and local politicians North Carolina crawled over each other on hands and knees, with hundreds of millions of dollars in hand, begging a communist electric car company to build a start-up to manufacturing plant here.
Well is only “sorta kinda communist” they say, cuz, well umm.. its Vietnamese. What part of the words “Communist China” do Americans fail to understand.
,
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Such an apt picture. However, I see no eagle in our future. It certainly is not Biden or his administration. And the American people don’t really worry about the dragon because they aren’t told about it.
They are not being told about it precisely as to not rile them up before they are fed to the dragon.
Beware of the Dragon in Pandas clothing
Could it be merit-based? Maybe Zhu is a badass at what he does? Musk is not an idealogue. If the best person for the job is a CCP member, then so be it. Not saying I agree, just saying that’s how it is.
It’s a big skill set setting up a car factory that size. Shanghai is producing 100,000 Vehicles a month as we speak, far more than any other Tesla factory. Does anyone really understand the logistics of an enterprise that size? Let’s just take one little facet of building a car. Tires. You have to have the capacity to source, purchase, and deliver 13,000 tires a day. And then when they arrive, you have to unload them, break down whatever units they arrive in, get them to the mounting shop, Mount them, inflate them, balance them, and then get them to the assembly line to be placed on the car, and you better have 80,000 plus lug nuts there ready to tighten them onto the car. And that’s just the tires. If you got a guy who can handle that type of stuff, yeah he’s going to be one of the main guys in your company.
Yeah, I am sure no executive from Ford or Ford could do this…..sarc.
I have a particular beef hiring a Chinese exec when the US taxpayer is subsiding this enterprise.
Hire American.
Dude, have you seen the direct billions we pump into GM and Ford trying to get them up to produce electric cars? And they fail and fail and fail. Google the weirdos that run those companies. Open your eyes
You have a very strong point about the skills set necessary for that Texas Tesla factory. Musk importing Chinese knowledge into US auto production is a rather bracing mental concept to chew on.
True, Musk is not an ideologue. He’s more of a pragmatist. Could be he’s aiming to have strong control over a CCP member who’s inside their tent peeing out, rather than standing outside their tent himself, trying to pee in.
Huh?
“Could be he’s aiming to have strong control over a CCP member”
Disloyal CCP members become organ donors.
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/13939633/china-brutal-execution-death-vans-trials/
“Could it be merit-based? Maybe Zhu is a badass at what he does? “
Nothing – absolutely nothing about what Musk does is based on free market competition. Does his rock star fame blind us to what our own eyes see?
I spent over 3 decades working in technology research, engineering and development with products and customers worldwide.
Working with Chinese engineers was unlike any other country. On joint projects, the Chinese engineers’ loyalty was to China – #1 and absolute. The relationships, intellectual property, designs and market share were always one-way by order of US execs. The Chinese are at economic war – we were told to be culturally sensitive and shut up. I had never in my career seen anything like it.
China has no intention of being a global competitor – they intend to own and control it all.
Zhu’s loyalty to the China and the CCP is absolute or he would not be where he is.
The greatest skill Musk has is getting government contracts. I guess he’s a good salesman…
No bid deals aligned with totalitarian state agenda, for untold amounts of capital and public asset transfers, so large to kill off all free market competition, are not a government contracts, it is neo-fascism.
Heh yeah. I don’t disagree at all with the Neo-fascism term. It’s similar to our Neo-Slave trade. Re-skinned evil.
But he still has government contracts. How he got them is fascistic.
In the end he’s just a government hype man.
Watching for a long time to see his stripes.
He just don’t quite have that… ring of Authenticity, the way some Metals ring out when they are the Perfect Recipe, the Right Blend…of the object crafted, and you know the Sound of that Legit Note…
The Master’s Touch….
You Know – without even turning around to see….
Like when you see “Thuh Biden” and his eyes turn to Snake eyes while you are looking at him….
“Hey! Ya know whut I mean, Vern?”
Some recent history….a couple of years ago Sun Guangxin (former Chinese General) bought the Morning Star Ranch near Del Rio which is just a few miles from Laughlin AFB. He wanted to build a wind farm (which would tie into the Texas electric grid) and extend the ranch’s 5,000 foot runway. The Texas Legislature passed the Lone Star Infrastructure Protection Act, which prevents companies controlled by China, Russia, Iran or North Korea, or one of their citizens, the ability to tie in to critical power, cyber security, communications, hazardous waste or water treatment facilities in the state. That stopped his wind farm, but he still owns the ranch (200 sq. miles). I’m not a Musk fan, and I’m not a fan of anyone who isn’t a U.S. citizen owning U.S. land. In fact, I’d prefer that only native Texans own Texas land. Not a possibility or practical, but I can dream!
If you are worried about foreigners owning land in the US, concern yourself with Canadians and then Europeans, certainly not the Chinese.
Canadian investors own the largest amount of reported foreign-held agricultural and non-agricultural land, with 32 percent, or 12.4 million acres (report 1B). Foreign persons from an additional four countries, the Netherlands with 13 percent, Italy with 7 percent, the United Kingdom with 6 percent, and Germany with 5 percent, and the collectively held 12 million acres or 31 percent of the foreign-held acres in the United States. The remaining 13.9 million acres, or 36 percent, of all reported foreign-held agricultural and non-agricultural land, are held by various other countries. For example, China held 352,140 acres, which is slightly less than 1 percent of foreign-held acres.
https://www.fsa.usda.gov/Assets/USDA-FSA-Public/usdafiles/EPAS/PDF/2020_afida_annual_report.pdf
China does own a very small amount of land in the U.S., the concern is where those purchases are located.
Read on another blog post that there are >30 FBI peeps still on the twit payroll, listing name and title of each, so I have 0 respect for and trust in this chameleon…
From what I’ve rad they were put on the payroll after Trump won. Before I label Musk a chameleon I will give him some time to sift through his new toy. Trump (and us included) had no idea the depth of the DC swamp when he took office. Doubtful Musk was given the blueprints revealing the true depths of his swamp right when he bough it.
There’s more than 30 and Musk will retain a bunch of them. He works for the US govt.
Primary evidence that Musk and Tesla have been quite good bedfellows with the good ol’ CCP…
If he’s going to expand his business and sell cars over there he has no choice but to lay down with those dogs and acquire some of their fleas. All part of the kickbacks that occur when you do business at that magnitude. Sleazeball politicians and their associated graft and corruption are not a novelty of the western cultures.
A car maker does not expand business and sell cars in China without giving China all their vehicle designs, manufacturing technology and all of the intellectual property for both. Why? Because those who control global capital control demand it.
China is their model for global corporatism. America is their obstacle. Musk is delivering on both objectives.
Where do you think virtually unlimited capital for all his “projects” came from? Thin air?
His capital comes from the US taxpayer.
The U.S. taxpayer.
Makes me wonder, are those Tesla Engineers that Musk brought in to go through the twitter mechanics Chinese engineers? Are we moving on from DHS/FBI/etc. to now have CCP deciding what people can post, and who?
And there are those people because Elon Musk is opening Twitter a bit that he’s a good guy in the white hat and will save us. No he’s bought and paid for by the Chinese. Elon is a government man every enterprise he has is on the government payroll
Controlled opposition.
“to help run the electric carmaker’s newest plant in Austin, Texas”
Sucking up to the CCP power structure while building a plant HERE. Just the reverse of the CCP method used to buy OUR pols and build plants THERE.
And Elon Musk has done more for free speech in America in a month than the entire GOP establishment has done in a decade.
I think EM is starting to realize Tsla best days in China might be over. Increased competition plus Covid shutdowns. He probably finds automakers in the US are easier competition to beat. Above my pay grade ( subsidies or not) but he sure seems to come up with products that are produced cheaper and faster and ahead of the pact. Starlink, spacex, Tesla all seem to compete or outcompete his competition. Add earlier companies such as PayPal and he keeps on coming up with unique ideas. Plus the Chinese are looking to eliminate some EV subsidies in 2023. Jmho. Pray and help others
If you’re interested in learning more about Musk and China’s relationship regarding Telsa, here is a pretty good rundown in less than 15 minutes. Basically, China wooed Musk to make a huge investment to manufacture Telsas in China and sell them to the Chinese market – then backstabbed him. p.s. ignore the title of the video, it’s too dramatic but the content is solid
Ty
Yes…
Well, ain’t that a kick in the butt.
SpaceX has 55 of the US’s 79 space launches this year.
China has 55 space launches.
Musk owes China.
A Chinese communist takes over as Tesla CEO. Might be the other way around.
It’s a big club and we ain’t in it.
Not surprising, since Musk’s mother was a CIA asset, and Musk’s best friend is a CIA contractor helping the Chinese Army.
https://wikispooks.com/wiki/Oracle
“David Carney was leader of Oracle’s Information Assurance Center, founded just two months after the September 11th attacks. He was formerly the number three person at the CIA, where he worked for 32 years.”
Also, this article was linked in there and has some more info:
https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/4696114
Tencent is China’s State-controlled tech conglomerate
“A senior official within NATO was cited on Sunday (Oct. 23) by CNA as saying the alliance is “deeply concerned” about the relationship between Elon Musk and his trusted business partner, Oracle Chairman and Chief Technology Officer Larry Ellison, and the Chinese government. When U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan in August, Beijing used her trip as a pretext to launch unprecedented military exercises around Taiwan.
This included launching ballistic missiles over Taiwan and was accompanied by cyberattacks on government agencies.
The NATO source pointed out the big data collected by Tencent Holding and Oracle’s cloud computing technology were used for the first time to create an “operational picture” that helped the Chinese military make strategic and tactical decisions.
Tencent not only owns China’s largest social media platform, WeChat, but also participates in China’s “military-civilian integration” program, developing technologies such as artificial intelligence and information and communication technologies.
In 2017, Oracle announced a strategic alliance with Tencent and that same year, Tencent purchased about a 5% stake in Tesla. In a tweet posted in March 2017, Musk wrote that he was “glad to have Tencent as an investor and advisor to Tesla.”
Another Oracle-China connection. It looks like China was planning to have Oracle run their Tik-Tok operations in the US. Trump sidelined it.
The report isn’t too surprising. Last year former US president Donald Trump issued an executive order banning any transactions related to the China-owned TikTok social media platform, as well as the Tencent-owned WeChat. Oracle was in line to claim TikTok’s US operations, but according to the South China Morning Post those Oracle talks collapsed in February, with a source saying “the deal was mainly designed to entertain demands from the Trump administration.”
https://www.pcgamer.com/tencent-is-negotiating-with-us-authorities-to-keep-riot-and-epic-stakes/
You mean there was no one qualified in the US who is an American Citizen to do this job?
Sure there is, but no one Xi can trust.
People really do need to start researching the Belt and Road initiative.
Long article on Musk in China. As someone noted above, Musk is the ultimate globalist.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2021-01-13/china-loves-elon-musk-and-tesla-tsla-how-long-will-that-last
“Under Xi’s economic strategy, “foreign companies are going to have pretty good opportunities, but they have to be aware that the ultimate plan is for all the advanced technologies to be Chinese,” says James McGregor, the chairman for Greater China at government relations firm Apco Worldwide. “I hope that Elon is going in there with both eyes open.””
“Veterans of the Chinese car industry, who’ve watched world-leading companies such as Volkswagen and Toyota struggle for decades to achieve what Musk has managed in only a few years, are impressed with how skillfully he’s navigated the mainland system. Their praise is qualified by a key caveat, though. “Elon’s played the game very well,” says Bill Russo, a former Chrysler executive who’s now the CEO of Automobility Ltd., a Shanghai-based consultant. “But Tesla got this because it was in China’s interest for Tesla to have it.””
Musk’s ties to the CCP
https://americanfaith.com/musks-ties-to-the-chinese-communist-party/
is it just me or does the new ‘owner’ of the most miraculous coffee shop also seem to be heavily intertwined with the same government giving us black eyes every day?
gives one cause for contemplation, doesn’t it?
No taxpayer dollars to subsidize non America first policy on the corporate level. Speaker of the House, who holds the purse strings, needs to be an America first choice.
Pretty obvious who Musk really is…
It’s all a freaking joke..It is not about the climate whatsoever..It is about,$$$$$$$…….If they wanted to solve the issue of our skies..then stop spraying ..the skies and let God control the weather…It is a “proven” fact they are using jets to spray the sky and cover the sun..If anyone would just wake up and talk about it..It is going to lead to our demise..but no one will address it..so afraid of back lash..Well the back lash will come from not recognizing what they are doing and doing something about it.All this..uproar about stolen elections..politicians..electric cars..etc..isn’t going to mean anything when our ability to produce food is gone.and that is coming..Ignore it..all you want ..or say it is conspiracy …is crazy because if you only have eyes to see..you will look up and know that they are spraying the skies everyday..Why aren’t you able to see the sun most of the winter??? We always had sun in the winter even when it was extremely cold..and after a snow storm..Now 88 percent of the time there is no sun in the winter..Think about it and look up and do your own research..Geoengineering.com is the site to use..It is not conspiracy..and it is a threat to all life..Just please open your eyes and your minds..It is dire..
So you having mass production problems?
Hire a Chinese guy who has been involved in and proven efficiency/mass production his entire career.
It’s elementary and yet soooo many find it devious?
Musk doesn’t care about where you are from as long as you are adding value.
“I can’t officially comment” means they are busy controlling the narrative using leaks while suppressing any public responses to the leaks.
Elon’s new brain implants should only be given to Democrats and Uniparty Rinos.
Tnx It is good to be informed. Elon Musk is doing some good work in exposing Twitter manipulation. Let is not obscure what else he is doing. Green Climate Agenda benefits China and Tesla/Musk.