Inside Maye Musk's Cozy Relationship With China

In January, with a nationwide prohibition connected TikTok looming, hundreds of thousands of radical successful the US began flocking to different Chinese societal media app called RedNote—only to find that Maye Musk, Elon Musk’s mother, had already established a comparatively ample assemblage connected the platform. Maye, who has go a personage successful her ain close successful China implicit the past fewer years, had implicit 600,000 followers connected RedNote erstwhile the flood of Americans arrived.

“I request to find the artifact button,” 1 American idiosyncratic commented nether Maye’s latest video astatine the time, which has received implicit 10,000 likes. “I can’t judge I’m witnessing American radical confronting Musk’s ma to her face,” different remark successful Chinese reads. Shortly afterward, Maye’s remark conception connected RedNote was closed for respective weeks. New comments didn’t commencement showing up again until aboriginal February.

The incidental represented a uncommon infinitesimal erstwhile the parallel nationalist images Maye Musk has created for herself collided. In China, the 76 year-old has built a mostly apolitical estimation arsenic a “silver influencer,” manner exemplary for section brands, and publication writer who regularly garners affirmative sum successful Chinese authorities media, The New York Times antecedently reported. Last week, she made different travel to China, this clip to the metropolis of Wuxi, wherever she was invited to ticker a drone show, promoted accepted crafts, and posed with a peculiar Tesla exemplary that comes successful antithetic colorways sold lone successful Asia.

But successful the US, Maye’s vocation has progressively converged with Elon’s arsenic her lad gained unprecedented powerfulness and power implicit the US national government. Since President Trump won reelection, Maye has traveled connected Air Force One, sat adjacent to Melania Trump astatine a Mar-a-Lago meal party, and attended a luncheon with Ivanka Trump, portion besides regularly firing disconnected posts connected X astir US politics, according to a WIRED reappraisal of her societal media presence.

In galore ways, Maye appears to beryllium trying to straddle the good enactment betwixt her governmental engagement successful the US and her concern dealings successful China and different overseas countries. That endeavor has go much fraught implicit the past 2 months arsenic Trump began radically reshaping US overseas policy, including imposing caller tariffs connected China. “There’s a heightened hazard present for American concern radical traveling to China and that continues to increase, particularly arsenic tensions successful the commercialized warfare volition increase,” says Holden Triplett, co-founder of Trenchcoat Advisors and a erstwhile elder FBI authoritative posted successful Beijing.

Maye Musk’s concern manager and Creative Artists Agency, her endowment typical bureau successful China, did not reply to requests for remark from WIRED.

Even earlier she began traveling regularly to China, Maye publically supported Elon and Tesla’s concern endeavors successful the country. In 2015, she retweeted a station by Elon successful which helium mentioned gathering with Chinese person Xi Jinping. “Great travel to China seeing President Xi ... Pic w China squad successful authorities garden,” the tweet reads, which was aboriginal deleted from Elon’s profile.