Drive an hour outside China’s commercial capital Shanghai, and you’ll reach Elon Musk’s Tesla gigafactory.

It manufactures almost one million Tesla cars a year and produces more than half of all its cars worldwide.

But with US president-elect Donald Trump preparing to move into the White House, the relationship between his new buddy Elon Musk and the leadership of China‘s Communist Party is in sharp focus.

Shanghai has been the key to Tesla’s success, largely thanks to the city’s former Communist Party secretary, now China’s premier, Li Qiang.

Chief executive of Shanghai-based Auto Mobility Limited, Bill Russo, says: “Qiang is China’s number two person. His position in Shanghai made everything possible for Tesla.”

He added: “In 2017, China adjusted its policy guidelines for the automotive industry to allow foreign companies to own their factories in China.

“Tesla signed its deal in 2018, broke ground in 2019, and started producing the Model 3 in 2020.”

The factory opened at breakneck speak and in record time.

In April, Musk met Qiang in Beijing, later posting on X: “Honoured to meet with Premier Li Qiang. We have known each other now for many years, since early Shanghai days.”

The Musk-China ties go all the way to the top.

When China’s President Xi Jinping visited the US in November 2023 he met Musk, who posted: “May there be prosperity for all” – echoing the language often used by China’s government.

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Musk has previously weighed into the debate over the status of Taiwan. Two years ago, he suggested tensions could be eased by giving China some control over Taiwan.

This comment incensed Taiwan’s leaders.

Chinese commentator Einar Tangen, from the Taihe Institute in Beijing, says: “If Musk had said anything else, he could face action against the Shanghai plants. He’s not going to endanger that. He’s playing both sides for his own advantage.”

What’s in it for China?

Musk needs China, and in the months to come, China may need Musk.

He could act as a well-connected middleman between the Chinese Communist Party and Trump, in the face of a potential global trade war.

“Like it or not, we are living in a world where China is the dominant player in the race to an electric future,” says Russo.

Musk pioneered the EV industry in China, but is now struggling to compete with local car brands like BYD and Nio.

The relationship between Musk and Trump could become volatile, but for now, Musk stands to benefit.

“Donald Trump has never had a problem giving exceptions to friends,” Tangen says.

“It fits his personality, that he can grant pardons and give favours to the people and companies he chooses.”

Musk ‘the pioneer’

Musk is well regarded as a pioneer in China and most people speak of him highly.

Strolling along the Bund waterfront area in Shanghai, Benton Tang says: “Tesla really impacted the entire industry here.

“It pushed people to develop and improve the quality, the design and especially the price.”

Interest in the Musk family has also gripped China’s online community.

His mother, Maye Musk, frequently visits the country, where she has a huge social media following as a senior-age celebrity fashion icon and endorses several Chinese products including a mattress brand.

Her book, A Woman Makes A Plan, has been translated into Chinese and is a bestseller here.

Meanwhile, as the countdown to Trump’s inauguration gains pace, the spotlight on the president-elect’s coterie of advisers intensifies.

In the middle of the glare is Elon Musk.

China waits to see what that will mean for them.

Did the authorities fail the victims of the New Orleans terror attack? It’s barely in question, surely.

And yet, consider the response of Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick of New Orleans police when I asked if she’d let them down by not having an appropriate security plan.

“That’s not correct, we would disagree with that.”

“It has to be a security failure?” I suggested.

“We do know that people have lost their lives,” she responded. “But if you were experienced with terrorism, you would not be asking that question.”

With that, she was escorted away from gathered journalists by her media handlers.

Superintendent Kirkpatrick had been holding a short news conference at the end of Bourbon Street to herald its re-opening. It was just yards from the spot where a terrorist was able to drive through a gap in a makeshift line of obstructions and accelerate towards New Year crowds.

Invoking “experience with terrorism” is something to ponder. What experience told authorities they had adequate protection against a vehicle attack?

What experience told them it was appropriate to have a car’s width gap in makeshift street barricades?

What experience told them to contradict the security protocols of major cities around the world when it comes to large public gatherings?

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To many, the answer shouldn’t be talk of experience – it should be, simply: “Sorry.” Notably, it has seemed to be the hardest word in a series of briefings by authorities who have bristled at the notion of security failings.

I asked Jack Bech for his view. He lost his brother Martin, or ‘Tiger’ in the Bourbon Street attack. He told Sky News he watched the final moments of his brother’s life on a FaceTime call to an emergency room as doctors tried, but failed, to save him.

It’s one heartbreaking story among dozens in this city.

On security, he said: “You can’t blame them. That dude easily could have been walking through the crowd with a jacket on and a bomb strapped to his chest.”

True. But the least that might be expected is an acknowledgement of failure to stop the man who drove his weapon into the crowd because he was able to. They certainly can’t claim success.

A measure of contrition would, perhaps, help the healing in this city. Experience should tell them that, if nothing else.

Israel has confirmed it is holding the director of one of the last functioning hospitals in northern Gaza following reports of his arrest last week.

Dr Hussam Abu Safiya was held along with dozens of other staff and taken to an interrogation centre during a raid on the Kamal Adwan Hospital on 27 December.

The Israeli military said they targeted the hospital as it was being used a command centre by Hamas militants.

Now, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have confirmed the doctor is being held on suspicion of “involvement in terrorist activities” and accused him of “holding a rank” in Hamas, but have not disclosed his whereabouts.

He is “currently being investigated” by Israeli security forces, the statement said.

Human rights campaigners have raised concerns for Dr Abu Safiya’s welfare, with the Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor organisation saying it had received information his health had deteriorated.

It said Physicians for Human Rights – Israel, another human rights group, had submitted a request for information and a lawyer’s visit on behalf of the hospital director’s family.

Following the raid on the hospital, Sky News spoke to patients who said they were forced outside in cold weather and told to strip.

Confirmation of Dr Abu Safiya’s detention comes as Israeli strikes killed at least 30 people in Gaza, including children, overnight, according to staff at al Aqsa Martyrs, another hospital in the enclave.

The Israeli army again said in a statement that it had struck Hamas gathering points and command centres.

Earlier this week, a new report from the UN Human Rights Office said Gaza’s health system was being brought “to the brink of total collapse” by Israel’s attacks on and around hospitals in the region.

At least 10 hospitals have been attacked by Israeli forces since the start of the war, some multiple times, the report said.

The Kamal Adwan Hospital has been hit multiple times over the past three months.

The Israel-Hamas war was sparked after Hamas launched an attack on Israel on 7 October 2023.

Militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted about 250. Around 100 hostages are still inside Gaza, with at least a third believed to be dead.

Israel’s retaliation has killed more than 45,500 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, and wounded more than 108,000 others, according to the Hamas-run Palestinian health ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.

Israel’s military says it only targets militants. The army says it has killed 17,000 militants, without providing evidence.