Tesla caught in the crossfire of a brewing tech Cold War with China 5 Apr, 2021 10:11 PM 4 minutes to read Tesla founder and chief executive Elon Musk. Photo / AP Daily Telegraph UK By: Laurence Dodds and Michael Cogley It is hard to see how Elon Musk's views on Communism would have passed muster during China's cultural revolution. The outspoken Tesla boss gave his verdict on Karl Marx last July in a meme posted on Twitter, which summarised the message of Das Kapital as: "Gib me dat for free." Today, though, the world's most prominent remaining Communist Party is important to Musk's business. Blockbuster production numbers from Tesla's new Shanghai "gigafactory" have helped drive its near-700 per cent increase in share price since January 2020, which has made Musk the second richest person on Earth - all underpinned by a productive relationship with China's government.