Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk hailed Chinese President Xi Jinping as a great leader in an interview with China Central Television (CCTV) on Tuesday, praising him for an "excellent job" presiding over an era of immense progress and increased prosperity in China.
Musk, the world’s richest man, was interviewed before Xi left Beijing for the United States on Wednesday for a state visit to the United States at the invitation of U.S. President Donald Trump.
"Well, he seems like a great leader. Under his tenure, China has prospered immensely. I've seen it first hand. Like if you visit China and you see the amount of progress that happens from one year to the next, or even within a year, it's very visible. Like you can see the new buildings, the new infrastructure. And it's also obvious to see that just walking around the streets, the increased prosperity of the average Chinese citizen has increased tremendously. All that's happened under President Xi, while he's been the leader of China, so he's clearly done an excellent job and is very capable,” he said.
Musk also recommended visiting China, saying there were so many things to see there and that it was hard to do justice to the “majesty” of China in words.
"Well, I would generally recommend as much time as that person can go to China, they should, because China has so many things to see. I took the bullet train from Beijing to Xi'an, that was a great experience. The train stations are amazing, the Terracotta Warriors is one of the wonders of the world. And just make sure you look out the window and you're not on your phone because there's so much to see. Any words I say do not do justice to the incredible majesty that is China. It's awesome." he said.
Elon Musk hails Xi's leadership, recommends travel to China
