Lei Jun Snaps Selfie With Elon Musk at China State Dinner as Weibo Pushes It Top 3
Updated
Updated · Forbes · May 15
Lei Jun Snaps Selfie With Elon Musk at China State Dinner as Weibo Pushes It Top 3
7 articles · Updated · Forbes · May 15
A banquet video from Beijing’s Great Hall of the People showed Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun kneeling in for a selfie with Tesla chief Elon Musk during a state dinner tied to President Donald Trump’s visit.
Musk appeared visibly annoyed in the circulating clip, helping turn the moment into one of Weibo’s top three trending topics by Thursday morning.
The encounter carried extra weight because Lei has long praised Musk and was reported in 2017 to be among Tesla’s earliest owners in China.
Xiaomi’s EV push, launched with an initial 2021 investment, has since made Lei’s company a direct challenger to Tesla’s Model Y in China’s intensely competitive electric-car market.
What does an awkward selfie reveal about the true state of the U.S.-China tech rivalry?
Are U.S. tech sanctions backfiring by accelerating China's own AI and chip breakthroughs?
With its self-driving software delayed, can Tesla still win against its Chinese rivals in their own market?