Several overseas CEOs, including Elon Musk of Tesla and David Solomon of Goldman Sachs, have visited China in recent months, but have been notably quiet about their trips. Instead of public events and media engagements, these visits have mostly consisted of closed-door meetings with government officials, local staff, and business partners. This lack of information can be attributed to wariness due to worsening political and trade tensions between the US and China, as well as China’s increasing focus on national security. Visiting executives are now concentrating on maintaining existing relationships and often stipulate no press, big dinners, or speaking opportunities. Before traveling to China, US CEOs seek advice on how Beijing’s expansion of its counter-espionage law could affect them and how to deal with Chinese government officials. The CEOs also want to avoid speaking to the media and running the risk of being asked to comment on stances taken by Washington and Beijing. Despite tensions, foreign CEOs appear eager to show commitment to the China market without setting off alarm bells with the US government.
The past year has seen a number of high-profile visits by foreign technology CEOs to China, with Tesla CEO Elon Musk being the latest among them. While the purpose of these visits remain unclear, the common denominator in them all has been a noticeable lack of public remarks made by the visiting CEOs while in the country.
This trend was certainly true of Musk’s recent visit to Shanghai, where he traveled to meet with government officials as part of Tesla’s plans to build a new manufacturing facility in the city. Despite media inquiries, Musk made no public statement during his visit, instead choosing to keep a low profile.
This strategy of silence may well be a calculated move by American technology CEOs when visiting China. Although the Chinese market provides a massive potential customer base, the country’s foreign investment regulations and stringent internet censorship laws make it a complex and often confusing environment in which to do business. As such, it is perhaps in the best interests of the CEOs and their companies to avoid making public comments that could be seen as controversial and potentially damaging to their business prospects in the country.
It is also possible that the silence is a sign of respect for Chinese culture, which places a high importance on guanxi (personal relations) as the cornerstone of successful business dealings. By keeping quiet, the foreign CEOs may be seen as showing deference to local norms, thus increasing their chances of achieving their desired outcome more quickly.
Whatever the underlying reason, the stark contrast between the level of public engagement of American and Asian technology executives when visiting China is undeniable. In the face of increasing uncertainty over the future of US-China relations and the impact this will have on foreign businesses in the country, these technology CEOs may very well have found that in China, silence is golden.
