Elon Musk said China would be Tesla's 'biggest market' on state TV, days after trying to convince officials that the cars don't spy on people

Tesla Inc CEO Elon Musk dances onstage during a delivery event for Tesla China-made Model 3 cars in Shanghai, China January 7, 2020.

REUTERS/Aly Song/File Photo/File Photo

• Elon Musk said China will be Tesla's biggest market in a clip broadcast on state television.
• Musk also said China was where Tesla will "make the most number of vehicles."
• It came three days after Musk tried to calm Chinese officials' fears that Teslas could spy on people.
• See more stories on Insider's business page.

Elon Musk sees China as Tesla's biggest future market and manufacturing hub, the billionaire told Chinese state television.

As reported by the Wall Street Journal, Chinese state television broadcast a 90-second clip of an interview with Musk on Tuesday.

"China in the long term will be our biggest market, both where we make the most number of vehicles and where we have the most number of customers," Musk told his interviewer, per the Journal.

"I'd like to strike an optimistic note and I'm very confident that the future of China is going to be great and that China is headed towards being the biggest economy in the world and a lot of prosperity in the future," he said.

Musk also praised China's climate policies. Earlier this month, premier Li Keqiang said China would reduce carbon emissions per unit of economic output by 18% by 2025. In September 2020, President Xi Jinping said China, which currently produces the most carbon emissions of any country in the world, plans to go carbon neutral by 2060.

"These are very aggressive goals and I think they are great goals and I wish other countries had these goals," Musk said in the clip.

Musk's comments came three days after he appeared via video link at a government conference to reassure politicians that Tesla cars were not a national security risk. Musk's appearance at the conference was prompted by concerns from Chinese officials that the cameras inside Tesla cars could be used to spy on people.

Tesla's business has been rapidly expanding in China. Tesla's Shanghai Gigafactory first started delivering cars in December 2019, and in 2020 the carmaker doubled its China revenues on the previous year.

The company is also setting up a research lab in China, which it says will be up and running within the year.

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